Contribution policy-based resource management and allocation system

ABSTRACT

The present disclosure relates generally to improving the management and provisoning of configurable computing resources. Certain techniques are disclosed herein for managing and provisoning the configurable computing resources based on resource policies. One of the techniques includes receiving a resource submission from a user. The resource submission identifies a contributable resource. The technique may also include identifying a contribution policy for the resource submission, and sending, based on the identified contribution policy, one or more resource types of requestable resources to a client computing system associated with the user. The technique may also include receiving, from the client computing system, information indicating a selection by the user of a resource type of the one or more resource types of the requestable resources.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority and benefit from U.S.Provisional Application No. 62/035,370, filed Aug. 8, 2014, entitled“RESOURCE MANAGEMENT AND ALLOCATION SYSTEM,” the entire content of whichis incorporated herein by reference for all purposes.

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure relates generally to computer systems andsoftware, and more particularly, to techniques for facilitating andautomating the provision of services in a distributed computingenvironment. A distributed computing environment such as a cloudcomputing environment is a model of service delivery for enablingconvenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool of configurablecomputing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs,processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, services,etc.) that can be rapidly provisioned and released with minimalmanagement effort or interaction with a provider of the service. Theprovider may provide a variety of services via the distributed computingenvironment. These services may include one or more services providedunder Software as a Service (SaaS) category, Platform as a Service(PaaS) category, Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS) category, or othercategories of services including hybrid services.

A user (e.g., a customer or client), via an order or servicesubscription, may order one or more of the services provided by thedistributed computing environment. The distributed computing environmentthen performs processing (e.g., provisioning, managing, and tracking) toprovide the services requested within the user's subscription order.Typically, when the provider (e.g., a cloud service provider) receivesan order or service subscription subscribing to the one or moreservices, the distributed computing environment provisions or allocatesthe configurable computing resources for the one or more services to therequesting user. However, the requesting user does not have control overhow the configurable computing resources are provisioned or allocatednor does the distributed computing environment manage the configurablecomputing resources to anticipate demand from the requesting user forthe configurable computing resources. These challenges may presentautomation, performance, and usability issues, which cannot be readilyaddressed by existing distributed computing environments that provisionor allocate configurable computing resources.

BRIEF SUMMARY

The present disclosure relates generally to improving the management andprovisoning of configurable computing resources. Certain techniques aredisclosed herein for managing and provisoning the configurable computingresources based on resource policies in order to reduce or nullifyinfrastructure setup time, automate repeatable complex integrations,avoid human intervention, and provide better management and usability ofthe configurable computing resources.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides the user with theability to control the provisioning of the configurable computingresources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, services, etc.) to someextent based on the resource policies. For example, the user can havethe ability to specify a geographical location of where the resourcesare provisioned; if the service is a multi-tenant service (e.g., thesame resource can be shared by two separate users), the user can havethe ability to indicate that the user does not want to share theresource; if the service is a multi-tenant service, the user can havethe ability to indicate an affinity towards a particular tenant (e.g.,the user can have the ability to indicate that they want to share aresource with tenant X), or in contrast, the user can have the abilityto indicate that they do not want to share with a particular tenant; theuser can have the ability to contribute one or more configurablecomputing resources to a resource pool of the distributed computingenvironment in exchange for requestable configurable computingresources; the user can have the ability to control separate PODprovisioning and service provisioning for services; etc.

In some embodiments, the present invention provides the distributedcomputing environment with the ability to manage, anticipate, andpre-create configurable computing resources and setups or groups ofconfigurable computing resources based on the resource policies. Forexample, the distributed computing environment can have the ability topre-create a number of configurable computing resources automaticallybased on the resource policies and a current percentage of servicerequests that include the configurable computing resource; thedistributed computing environment can have the ability to pre-create anumber of configurable computing resources automatically based on theresource policies and the progress of a new service or product release;the distributed computing environment can have the ability to monitorthe percentage of demand for sets or groups of resources used togetherand pre-create or create-on-demand the identified sets or groups ofconfigurable computing resources based on the resource policies anddemand for the configurable computing resources; the distributedcomputing environment can have the ability to control a number ofconfigurable computing resources that a user can or has contributed tothe distributed computing environment and a number of configurablecomputing resources that can be provided or have been provided to theuser in exchange for the contributed configurable computing resourcesbased on the resource policies and demand for the configurable computingresources; etc.

In at least one embodiment, a method is performed by a computing system,and the method includes receiving a resource submission from a user. Theresource submission identifying a contributable resource. The method mayfurther include identifying a contribution policy for the resourcesubmission. The contribution policy is identified based on a mappingbetween a resource type of the contributable resource and one or moreresource types of requestable resources. The method may further includesending, based on the identified contribution policy for the resourcesubmission, the one or more resource types of the requestable resourcesto a client computing system associated with the user. The method mayfurther include receiving, from the client computing system, informationindicating a selection by the user of a resource type of the one or moreresource types of the requestable resources.

Optionaly, the method may further include receiving an order by the userfor a service. The service is enabled in part by allocation of aresource. The method may further include determining that a type of theresource matches the resource type selected by the user, and enablingaccess to the resource for the service in exchange for the contributableresource.

In at least one embodiment, a non-transitory machine readable storagemedium is provided for that includes instructions stored thereon thatwhen executed by one or more processors cause the one or more processorsto perform a method including receiving a resource submission from auser, the resource submission identifying a contributable resource, anddetermining, based on the resource submission, the resource type of thecontributable resource. The method performed by the one or moreprocessors may further include identifying a contribution policy for theresource submission. The identifying the contribution policy includesdetermining that the resource type matches one or more resource types ofcontributable resources mapping to one or more resource types ofrequestable resources in the contribution policy. The method performedby the one or more processors may further include sending, based on theidentified contribution policy for the resource submission, the one ormore resource types of the requestable resources to a client computingsystem associated with the user. The method performed by the one or moreprocessors may further include receiving from the client computingsystem, information indicating a selection by the user of a resourcetype of the one or more resource types of the requestable resources.

Optionally, the method performed by the one or more processors mayfurther include allocating a resource that is of a type that matches theresource type selected by the user in exchange for the contributableresource. The allocating comprises configuring the resource forservicing the user.

In at least one embodiment, a system is provided for that includes oneor more processors and non-transitory machine readable storage medium.The system may further include program instructions configured toreceive an order from a user for a service, the order identifies acontributable resource and a requestable resource. The contributableresource is to be provided to a resource pool in exchange for therequestable resource. The program instructions may be further configuredto accept the resource submission based on a contribution policy. Thecontribution policy defines a mapping between a first resource type of atype of the contributable resource and a second resource type of a typeof the requestable resource. Additionally, the program instructions maybe further configured to receive access credentials that provide accessto and control over the contributable resource, update the resource poolto indicate availability of the contributable resource for servicing oneor more users of a distributed system, and allocate the requestableresource to the user. The program instructions are stored on thenon-transitory machine readable storage medium for execution by the oneor more processors.

Optionally, the contributable resource is managed by the user, and therequestable resource is managed by another user. Alternatively, thecontributable resource is managed by the user, and the requestableresource is a component of the resource pool managed by a resourcemanager of the distributed system.

The foregoing, together with other features and embodiments will becomemore apparent upon referring to the following specification, claims, andaccompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a logical view of a cloud infrastructure system according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified diagram of a policy-based resourceallocation and management system according to an embodiment of thepresent invention.

FIG. 3 depicts an example of placement policy-based resource allocationand management according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 depicts a more detailed high level diagram of a client device andresource manager according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of a contribution policy-basedresource allocation and management system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 6 depicts a more detailed high level diagram of a client device andresource manager according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 depicts a simplified flowchart depicting processing performed forcontribution policy-based resource allocation according to an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 8 depicts another simplified flowchart depicting processingperformed for contribution policy-based resource allocation according toan embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 depicts a simplified flowchart depicting processing performed fordemand policy-based resource allocation according to an embodiment ofthe present invention

FIG. 10 depicts another simplified flowchart depicting processingperformed for demand policy-based resource allocation according to anembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 11 depicts a simplified high level diagram of a network environmentthat may incorporate an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 depicts another embodiment that may incorporate teachings of thepresent invention.

FIG. 13 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system forimplementing an embodiment.

FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram of one or more components of asystem environment in which services may be offered as cloud services,in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary computer system that may be used toimplement an embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, specificdetails are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding ofembodiments of the invention. However, it will be apparent that variousembodiments may be practiced without these specific details. The figuresand description are not intended to be restrictive.

The present disclosure relates generally to managing and allocatingconfigurable computing resources based on resource policies. Forpurposes of this disclosure, it is assumed that the management andallocation of the configurable computing resources is performed at leastin part in response to one or more subscription orders subscribing toone or more services provided by a service provider of a distributedcomputing environment such as a cloud computing environment. While someembodiments have been disclosed herein with respect to managing andallocating configurable computing resources provided under servicemodels including SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, this is not intended to berestrictive. In addition to SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS, the teachingsdisclosed herein can also be applied to other service models. Forexample, the teachings are applicable to any model of service deliveryfor enabling convenient, on-demand network access to a shared pool ofconfigurable computing resources (e.g. networks, network bandwidth,servers, PODs, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtualmachines, services, etc.).

In certain embodiments, a distributed computing environment such as acloud computing environment may include a suite of applications,middleware and database service offerings that are delivered to a userin a self-service, subscription-based, elastically scalable, reliable,highly available, and secure manner. The cloud computing environment mayprovide many capabilities including, but not limited to, provisioning,managing and tracking a user's subscription for services and resourcesin the cloud computing environment, providing predictable operatingexpenses to users utilizing the services in the cloud computingenvironment, providing robust identity domain separation and protectionof a user's data in the cloud computing environment, providing userswith a transparent architecture and control of the design of the cloudcomputing environment, providing users assured data protection andcompliance with data privacy standards and regulations, providing userswith an integrated development experience for building and deployingservices in the cloud computing environment and providing users with aseamless integration between business software, middleware, database andinfrastructure services in the cloud computing environment.

In certain embodiments, services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include a host of services that are made available to usersof the cloud computing environment on demand such as online data storageand backup solutions, Web-based e-mail services, hosted office suitesand document collaboration services, database processing, managedtechnical support services and the like. Services provided by the cloudcomputing environment can dynamically scale to meet the needs of itsusers. A specific instantiation of a service provided by cloud computingenvironment is referred to herein as a service instance. In general, anyservice made available to a user via a communication network such as theInternet from a cloud service provider's system is referred to as acloud service. Typically, in a public cloud environment, servers andsystems that make up the cloud service provider's system are differentfrom the user's own on-premises servers and systems. For example, acloud service provider's system may host an application and a user may,via a communication network such as the Internet, on demand, order anduse the application.

A service in a computer network cloud infrastructure includes protectedcomputer network access to storage, a hosted database, a hosted webserver, a software application, or other service provided by a cloudvendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art. For example, aservice can include password-protected access to remote storage on thecloud through the Internet. As another example, a service can include aweb service-based hosted relational database and script-languagemiddleware engine for private use by a networked developer. As anotherexample, a service can include access to an email software applicationhosted on a cloud vendor's web site.

FIG. 1 is a logical view of a cloud computing environment 10 accordingto some embodiments of the present invention. Cloud computingenvironment 10 may provide a variety of services via a cloud ornetworked environment. These services may include one or more servicesprovided under SaaS, PaaS, IaaS, or other categories of servicesincluding hybrid services. A user, via a subscription order, may orderone or more services provided by cloud computing environment 10. Cloudcomputing environment 10 then performs processing to provide theservices in the user's subscription order.

Cloud computing environment 10 may provide the cloud services viadifferent deployment models. For example, services may be provided undera public cloud model where cloud computing environment 10 is owned by anorganization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle) and theservices are made available to the general public or different industryenterprises. As another example, services may be provided under aprivate cloud model where cloud computing environment 10 is operatedsolely for a single organization and may provide services for one ormore entities within the organization. The cloud services may also beprovided under a community cloud model where cloud infrastructure system100 and the services provided by cloud computing environment 10 areshared by several organizations in a related community. The cloudservices may also be provided under a hybrid cloud model, which is acombination of two or more different models.

As shown in FIG. 1, cloud computing environment 10 may comprise multiplecomponents, which working in conjunction, enable provision of servicesprovided by cloud computing environment 10. In the embodimentillustrated in FIG. 1, cloud computing environment 10 includes a SaaSplatform 15, a PaaS platform 20, an IaaS platform 25, infrastructureresources 30, and cloud management functionality 35. These componentsmay be implemented in hardware, or software, or combinations thereof

SaaS platform 15 is configured to provide cloud services that fall underthe SaaS category. For example, SaaS platform 15 may providecapabilities to build and deliver a suite of on-demand applications onan integrated development and deployment platform. SaaS platform 15 maymanage and control the underlying software and infrastructure forproviding the SaaS services. By utilizing the services provided by SaaSplatform 15, users can utilize applications executing on cloud computingenvironment 10. Users can acquire the application services without theneed for users to purchase separate licenses and support.

Various different SaaS services may be provided. Examples includewithout limitation services that provide solutions for sales performancemanagement, enterprise integration and business flexibility for largeorganizations, and the like. In one embodiment, the SaaS services mayinclude User Relationship Management (CRM) services 40 (e.g., Fusion CRMservices provided by the Oracle cloud), Human Capital Management(HCM)/Talent Management services 45, and the like. CRM services 40 mayinclude services directed to reporting and management of a salesactivity cycle to a user, and others. HCM/Talent services 45 may includeservices directed to providing global workforce lifecycle management andtalent management services to a user.

Various different PaaS services may be provided by PaaS platform 20 in astandardized, shared and elastically scalable application developmentand deployment platform. Examples of PaaS services may include withoutlimitation services that enable organizations (such as Oracle) toconsolidate existing applications on a shared, common architecture, aswell as the ability to build new applications that leverage the sharedservices provided by the platform. PaaS platform 20 may manage andcontrol the underlying software and infrastructure for providing thePaaS services. Users can acquire the PaaS services provided by cloudcomputing environment 10 without the need for users to purchase separatelicenses and support. Examples of PaaS services include withoutlimitation Oracle Java Cloud Service (JCS), Oracle Database CloudService (DBCS), and others.

By utilizing the services provided by PaaS platform 20, users canutilize programming languages and tools supported by cloud computingenvironment 10 and also control the deployed services. In someembodiments, PaaS services provided by the cloud computing environment10 may include database cloud services 50, middleware cloud services(e.g., Oracle Fusion Middleware services) 55 and Java cloud services 60.In one embodiment, database cloud services 50 may support shared servicedeployment models that enable organizations to pool database resourcesand offer users a database-as-a-service in the form of a database cloud,middleware cloud services 55 provides a platform for users to developand deploy various business applications and Java cloud services 60provides a platform for users to deploy Java applications, in the cloudcomputing environment 10. The components in SaaS platform 15 and PaaSplatform 20 illustrated in FIG. 1 are meant for illustrative purposesonly and are not intended to limit the scope of embodiments of thepresent invention. In alternate embodiments, SaaS platform 15 and PaaSplatform 20 may include additional components for providing additionalservices to the users of cloud computing environment 10.

Various different IaaS services may be provided by IaaS platform 20. TheIaaS services facilitate the management and control of the underlyingcomputing resources such as storage, networks, and other fundamentalcomputing resources for users utilizing services provided by the SaaSplatform and the PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, the cloud computing environment 10 includesinfrastructure resources 30 for providing the resources used to providevarious services to users of the cloud computing environment 10. In oneembodiment, infrastructure resources 30 includes pre-created andoptimized combinations (e.g., groups or sets) of hardware such asservers, storage and networking resources to execute the servicesprovided by the PaaS platform and the SaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud management functionality 35 providescomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, IaaSservices) in the cloud computing environment 10. In one embodiment,cloud management functionality 35 includes capabilities forprovisioning, managing and tracking a user's order or subscriptionreceived by the cloud infrastructure system 10, and the like.

FIG. 2 depicts a simplified high level diagram of a policy-basedresource allocation and management system 100 according to an embodimentof the present invention. As shown in FIG. 2, a resource managementsystem 105 (e.g., a computing system of a service provider comprisingone or more computing devices) can receive an order or servicesubscription 107 from a user or user 110 (e.g., a client or computingdevice) for one or more configurable computing resources 115A-1151 Theresources 115A-115J provided to the user 110 may be located in one ormore data centers 120A-120D, which may be located in differentgeographical regions 125A-120-D. Traditional service providers provisionand allocate resources in a manner that is most cost effective to theprovider, and do not enable the user to define how or where theresources are provisioned to best suit the user's needs. Additionally,prior art systems are reactive in that they provide resources on demand.However, these systems do not anticipate requests or identify andprovide sets or groups of resources based on current demand. Embodimentsof the present invention address these and other issues.

In accordance with aspects of the present invention, the one or moreconfigurable computing resources 115A-115J (i.e., contributable orrequestable resource types) can be networks, network bandwidth, servers,PODs, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines,services, etc. A POD is a logical entity that can represent one of thefollowing: a pre-provisioned anonymous single-tenant deployment (as isthe case for the Java service); or a multi-tenant stack (physical orvirtualized) that serves multiple tenants (as is the case for thedatabase service). For example, a POD is a deployment of a service on aphysical stack. A POD can house one or more service instances. A POD canbe created a priori or can be created on-demand when a service instanceis created for a given customer. In some instances, a POD is aninstantiation of a software stack for running a service. A POD is thusused to run a service. For example, a POD corresponding to Java servicemay comprise a stack of virtual machines. As another example, a POD fora database service may comprise an instance of a database. A POD may beconsidered as a subsystem that is capable of hosting a service.Different PODs may be used for different services.

FIG. 3 depicts an example flow diagram 200 of placement policy-basedresource allocation and management according to an embodiment of thepresent invention. As described above, typical service providers do notenable users or users to define how and where their requestedconfigurable computing resources are provisioned. Instead, configurablecomputing resources are typically allocated in whatever manner is mostcost effective for the service provider. However, the best allocationfor the service provider may not provide the best experience for the enduser.

Embodiments of the present invention expose fine-grained resourceallocation capabilities to the end user by enabling the user to defineplacement policies (i.e., resource policies) for their configurablecomputing resource requests. This may provide a number of advantages tothe end user. For example, in the context of IaaS, the end user may beconcerned about security of their data, particularly where their datamay be stored on the same computing node as other users' data. AlthoughIaaS providers make guarantees as to data security, for some users theseguarantees may be insufficient. The user may instead want their owndedicated computing nodes that are not shared with any other users.Other users may be less concerned with data security, but may haveparticular performance or redundancy requirements that can be bestserved by specifically defined resource allocations. As such,embodiments of the present invention include a plurality of placementpolicies to accommodate end users' needs. As used herein, the placementpolicies refer to the rules that define how the configurable computingresources (e.g., computing nodes) are allocated for servicing a user.

In accordance with aspects of the present invention, the placementpolicies can allocate resources based on a number of different factors.For example, in the context of IaaS, where performance is an issue,computing resources may be grouped to run on a same hypervisor or set ofhypervisors (e.g., a virtual machine monitor (VMM) or set of VMMs, whichis a piece of computer software, firmware, and/or hardware that createsand runs virtual machines (VMs)). This may improve network communicationand request/response times compared to resources spread betweendifferent hypervisors or sets of hypervisors, by reducing calls to thenetworking layer. For example, shared storage resources may be bestallocated in the same hypervisor or set of hypervisors as its associatedcompute nodes to improve performance. As described above, securityconcerns can be addressed by running resources on dedicated hypervisors.This can be used to secure data from malicious or inadvertent accessesbetween different users or between sets of data controlled by the sameuser that need to be maintained separately. Likewise, geographicrestrictions (e.g., limitations on the locations of data centers thathost the resources) may also be provided to meet particular security,performance, or regulatory requirements. Additionally, isolation and/orredundancy can be maintained by running particular resources on separatehypervisors or sets of hypervisors. This can be used to preserve data incase of failure or to perform management, administrative, orinfrastructure operations (such as patching) on one set of resources,without affecting other resources (e.g., to reduce downtime). In someembodiments, an enterprise design, integration requirement, or otherfunctional requirement may require that components can interoperate onlywithin the scope of same hypervisor (e.g., software definedinfrastructure (SDI)).

Examples of placement policies, in the context of IaaS, include adedicated hypervisors policy in which allocated resources run on virtualmachines placed to a set of hypervisors. The set of hypervisors arededicated in that they are not shared with other users. A best fitplacement policy may allocate virtual machines to a set of hypervisorsto optimize computing resource utilization. For example, the set ofhypervisors may be shared with other users (and run other resources), asneeded, to save resources, maximize resource utilization, reducefragmentation, or other resource optimization. In some embodiments, thebest fit placement policy may be selected by default where no placementpolicy is specified by the user. A group fit placement policy may beused where a particular portion of computing resources are to be runtogether. Virtual machines can be grouped together and run on one ormore hypervisors in the same hypervisor pool. Placement policies may becustomized as needed by end users to create hybrid placement policiesthat incorporate features from one or more of the above described, orany other, placement policies.

As shown in FIG. 3, a user 205 can submit an order or servicesubscription 210 to a resource manager (e.g., resource management system105 described with respect to FIG. 2) that includes a topologydefinition 215. The topology definition may include requirements forindividual configurable computing resources (e.g., compute nodes) suchas memory, number of CPUs, storage requirements, and otherspecifications as required by the end user. For example, as shown intopology definition 215, the order or service subscription 210 includesnine virtual machines 220A-220I, each with its own specification (e.g.,memory, number of CPUs, and storage). The nine virtual machines aregrouped such that group 1 includes three virtual machines 220A-220C,group 2 includes 2 virtual machines 220D-220E, and the remaining fourvirtual machines 220E-2201 are ungrouped. This topology definition 215represents a hybrid placement policy in that two groups are specifiedfor a portion of the requested virtual machines, and a best fit policycan be applied to the remaining virtual machines.

In some embodiments, topology definitions can be provided in a textformat, as shown below in Listing 1:

Listing 1. Example Topology Definition #---------------------------------------------------------------------------TOPOLOGY =NUM_OF_VMS-- >VM_NO:VM_CPU_COUNT:VM_MEM_REQUIRED:VM_COMMENTS:VM_OS_TEMPLATE:GROUP_ID #--------------------------------------------------------------------------- CRM_DEPLOYMENT = 13-->1:8:32000:RAC_NODE1_HOST:OVM_OL5U6_X86_64_11203RAC_PVM:1, 2:8:32000:RAC_NODE2_HOST:OVM_OL5U6_X86_64_11203RAC_PVM:1,3:0:0:RAC_NODE1_VIP_HOST:stit_oel5u6:1,4:0:0:RAC_NODE2_VIP_HOST:stit_oel5u6:1,5:0:0:RAC_CLUSTER_VIP_HOST:stit_oel5u6:1,6:4:11264:IDM_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_OIM:0,7:2:1024:IDM_HOST2:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_AUTHOHS:0,8:4:12288:IDM_HOST3:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_OID:0,9:2:3072:OHS_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_OHS:0,10:4:15360:FA_ADMIN_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_FA:0,11:4:20480:FA_PRIMARY_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_PRIMARY:0,12:24:50176:FA_SECONDARY_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_SECONDARY:0,13:4:6144:BI_HOST:HCM_DVF_REL5_GA_BI:0

As shown in Listing 1, thirteen virtual machines in two groups arerequested. In some embodiments, groups can be identified based on namesof VMs without explicit group IDs. Listing 1 defines an example topologyfor a user relations manager (CRM) deployment. Each VM in the topologydefinition includes a VM number (VM_NO), a defined number of CPUs(VM_CPU COUNT), a defined amount of memory (VM_MEM_REQUIRED), a VM name(VM_COMMENTS), and operating system definition (VM_OS_TEMPLATE), and agroup ID (GROUP_ID). In some embodiments, the topology definition mayinclude more or fewer requirements. For example, in some embodiments thetopology definition for each VM may include a flag that indicateswhether a proxy node is be used. Some VMs, such as VMS 3-5, may berequested without a CPU or memory requirement, these VMs may be set upas IP addresses for the deployment.

As shown above, groups can be identified automatically based on thetopology definition and/or defined explicitly in the topologydefinition. For example, in Listing 1, each virtual machine named“RAC_*” can be identified and grouped automatically. In someembodiments, recommended groups can be identified based on the nodenames and presented to a user for confirmation. In some embodiments, anexplicit group ID can be included in the topology definition. Forexample, as shown in Listing 1, VMs 1-5 include a Group_ID of 1, whileVMs 6-13 include a Group_ID of 0. In some embodiments, if the Group_IDcorresponds to a pre-existing group, the newly requested VMs can beadded to the pre-existing group.

As shown in FIG. 3, in the context of IaaS, the requested resourceswithin the order or service subscription can be allocated from resourcepool 225 based on the topology definition 215. In some embodiments,resource pool 225 may be a hypervisor pool managed by an IaaS provider.In some embodiments, resource pool 225 may include a plurality ofresource pools that are distributed across multiple remote data centers.

FIG. 4 depicts a more detailed high level diagram 300 of a client deviceand resource manager according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 4, an end user can communicate with aresource manager 305 (e.g., a resource management system 105 asdescribed above with respect to FIG. 2) using user computer 310 to sendan order or service subscription 315 that includes a resource requestand topology definition 320. The order or service subscription 315 maybe received by resource request interface 325 and forwarded to resourcepool 330 and policy manager 335. Resource pool 330 can serve as aninterface to one or more resource pools (e.g., resource pool 225described with respect to FIG. 3) at one or more data centers managed byresource manager 305. Resource pool 330 can maintain a data center index340 and resource index 345. Each index 340 and 345 may indicate theconfigurable computing resources that are currently available at aparticular data center and/or the configurable computing resources thatcan be provided by each data center. For example, data center index 340may indicate how many hypervisors are available in each connected datacenter and whether those hypervisors can be shared and/or used fordedicated placement policies. Similarly, resource index 345 may indicatewhat pre-existing configurable computing resources are available at anygiven data center, such as current available application servers, RealApplication Clusters (RAC) nodes, storage nodes, etc. Resourceallocation module 350 can receive the order or service subscription 315and can determine the configurable computing resources that arerequested and according to what, if any, placement policy. Resourceallocation module 350 can communicate with policy manager 335 toidentify and determine the requirements of specified placement policies.Policy manager 335 can maintain a plurality of policy definitions 355including demand policies 360, contribution policies 365, and placementpolicies 370. Policy manager 335 may also include a policy update module375, which can update policy definitions 355 as needed.

FIG. 5 depicts a simplified diagram of a contribution policy-basedresource allocation and management system according to an embodiment ofthe present invention. In some embodiments, users may contribute unusedor extra configurable computing resources in exchange for differentconfigurable computing resources, discounts on order or servicesubscriptions, or other forms of compensation. For example, a serviceprovider such as a private cloud infrastructure provider may serviceorders or service subscriptions from a plurality of different usersand/or organizations from a shared pool of configurable computingresources. Each user or organization (e.g., a customer) may own orcontrol their own hardware and/or software resources, for example,hypervisors, storage nodes, or other configurable computing resourceswhich may not be fully utilized, or may no longer be used. Theembodiment shown in FIG. 5 allows these users and/or organizations tocontribute their unused configurable computing resources in exchange forpayment and/or for other configurable computing resources that will beused by the contributing user. For example, in the context of IaaS, auser may have an extra storage node that the user does not need. Inexchange for contributing their extra storage node, the user may be ableto request a RAC node. Users may also contribute hypervisors, software,networks, PODs, or other configurable computing resources.

As shown in FIG. 5, each user 405 can be associated with a contributableresource 410. In some embodiments, the contributable resource 410 ismanaged by the user and can be hardware and/or software types ofresources, for example, networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs,processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, services,etc., which may not be fully utilized, or may no longer be used. Eachuser 405 can send a resource submission 415 to a resource manager 420(e.g., a resource management system 105 as described above with respectto FIG. 1) that includes a description of the resource beingcontributed. For example, the description may include the type ofresource being contributed (e.g., a server) and the specifics of theresource such as name of the resource, memory, CPU information,operating system, additional hardware and/or software, etc. The resourcemanager 420 can evaluate the contributable resource 410 in view ofcurrent resource availability and/or resource demand and return anexchange offer that defines one or more types of requestable resource425 that a user 405 may receive in exchange for the contributableresource 410. In some embodiments, the requestable resource 425 ismanaged by the resource manager 420 and can be hardware and/or softwaretypes of resources, for example, networks, network bandwidth, servers,PODs, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines,services, etc., which are available for servicing the user. If theexchange (e.g., the contributable resource 410 for the requestableresource 425) meets the needs of the contributing user 405, the user 405can accept the offer and turn over control of the contributable resource410 to the resource manager 420. For example, the user 405 can providethe resource manager 420 with access credentials (e.g., a username andpassword) that provides access to and control over the contributableresource 410. The user 405 can then receive the bargained forrequestable resource 425 from the resource manager 406.

This is advantageous for users who can exchange one type of configurablecomputing resource that the user does not need, for a different type ofconfigurable computing resource that the user does need. In someembodiments, the configurable computing resource (e.g., the requestableresource) that the user receives in exchange may be running on anyhypervisor in the resource pool, without requiring the user to set upthe desired configurable computing resource. For example, a user maypurchase a compute node, but may not have any particular expertise insetting up configurable computing resources on that compute node. Bycontributing the compute node, the user can receive the desiredconfigurable computing resources in exchange, running on a differentcompute node without requiring any setup by the user. This may also beused internally by organizations. Organizations, such as large softwaredevelopment companies, may allocate configurable computing resources todifferent subgroups of the organization based on expected need. Whensubgroup needs change, due to taking on new projects or changes indemand in the marketplace, it may be difficult for the organization toreallocate configurable computing resources among the subgroups. Using acontribution policy-based resource management and allocation system, thesubgroups can rebalance resources spontaneously, without requiringreallocation by the organization. Contribution policies can define“exchange rates” (e.g., a mapping between a contributable resources andrequestable resources) for resource contributions based on demand andcan be updated dynamically. Similarly, such a contribution policy-basedsystem may be used across organizations. The resource manager can act asa trusted party that provides a standardized protocol for organizationsto contribute their computing resources. This may be used in combinationwith the placement policy-based system described above to ensure thatsensitive information from one organization is not exposed to a rivalorganization's computing resources.

FIG. 6 depicts a more detailed high level diagram 500 of a client deviceand resource manager according to an embodiment of the presentinvention. As shown in FIG. 6, resource manager 505 (e.g., a resourcemanagement system 105 or resource manager 305; 420 as described abovewith respect to FIGS. 2, 4, and 5 receptively) comprises severalsubsystems or modules including a resource submission interface 510,user account history 515 and demand monitor 520. Additionally, resourcemanager 505 may include policy manager 525, resource pool 530, andresource request interface 535 (e.g., policy manager 335, resource pool330, and resource request interface 325 as described above with respectto FIG. 3). These subsystems may be implemented in software (e.g.,program code, instructions executable by one or more processors), inhardware, or combinations thereof In some embodiments, the software maybe stored in memory (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable medium),on a memory device, or some other physical memory and may be executed byone or more processing units (e.g., one or more processors, one or moreprocessor cores, one or more GPUs, etc.).

As depicted in FIG. 6, user computer 540 may execute a web applicationsuch as browser 545 that enables a user of user computer 540 to send aresource submission to resource manager 505 to contribute a configurablecomputing resource (e.g., a contributable resource) to the resourcemanager 505. The resource submission can specify the type of resourcebeing contributed (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs,processing, memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, services,etc.) and the specifics of the resource such as name of the resource,memory, CPU information, operating system, additional hardware and/orsoftware, etc. The contributable resource is owned or otherwisecontrolled (e.g., managed) by the user (e.g., a resource the user is nolonger wholly or partially using), such as local resource 550A and/orremote resource 550B, which the user may access through network 555.

In one embodiment, resource submission interface 510 can receive theresource submission and communicate with policy manager 525 to identifyone or more contribution policies that may apply to the resourcesubmission. For example, each contribution policy may specify one ormore types of requestable resources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth,servers, PODs, processing, memory, storage, applications, virtualmachines, services, etc.) that may be provided in exchange for the typeof resource being contributed. Once the applicable contribution policieshave been identified, the policy manager 525 can return the one or moretypes of requestable resources identified for the resource submission.Accordingly, each contribution policy effectively represents an offer ofone or more types of requestable resources, which the user can accept orreject in exchange for the contributable resource. If the user selectsor accepts one of the one or more types of requestable resource, a useraccount history 560 can be updated to indicate resource beingcontributed by the user in contribution history 565. Thereafter, theuser can submit an order or service subscription that includes aresource request for a requestable resource of the type previouslyselected or accepted, and the resource manager 505 can respond with anallocation of the requestable resource. Additionally, when the usersubmits the order or service subscription, resource request history 570can similarly be updated with the request for the resource. Tracking theuser's contribution and order or service subscription histories enablesthe resource manager 505 to track whether the user has received theagreed upon requestable resource in exchange for the contributableresource.

In some embodiments, the contribution policies may be tailored for aparticular user based on their contribution history. For example, userswith a history of contributing many configurable computing resources mayreceive more favorable offers (e.g., more configurable computingresources in exchange for a contribution than would otherwise beprovided based on current demand) than users with a limited contributionhistory.

In an alternative embodiment, resource submission interface 510 canreceive an order or service subscription, which includes an offer tocontribute one or more types of resources in exchange for one or morerequestable resources, and communicates with policy manager 525 todetermine whether the offer may be satisfied. For example, the order orservice subscription may define one or more resources that may becontributed in exchange for one or more requestable resources preferredby the user. Additionally, the order or service subscription may defineone or more users and/or one or more geographic regions from which theone or more requestable resources may be provided. Accordingly, eachorder or service subscription effectively represents an offer ofexchange of one or more types of contributable resources for one or moretypes of requestable resources that the policy manager 525 can accept,reject, or counter (e.g., propose one or more other types ofconfigurable computing resource based on contribution policiesmaintained by the policy manager 525). If the policy manager 525 acceptsthe offer, the user account history 560 can be updated to indicate thecontribution of the one or more resources by the user in contributionhistory 565. Additionally, the resource request history 570 cansimilarly be updated with the one or more resources requested by theuser. The acceptance of the offer can be determined by the policymanager 525 based on a number of factors including but not limited topermissions granted from the one or more users from which thecontributable or requestable resources may be provided, availabilityand/or demand of the types of contributable or requestable resources,equality of the exchange between the types of the contributableresources and the types of the requestable resources, the contributionpolicies maintained by policy manager 525, etc. In such embodiments, itis possible for a first user “A” to collaborate with a second user “B”on projects or jobs and share one or more resources with one another tocomplete each user's portion of the project or job, and/or enter into anagreement for the exchange of one or more resources between one another.

In some embodiments, the resource policies (e.g., contribution policies)maintained by policy manager 525 can be dynamically updated based on thecurrent demand for different types of contributable and/or requestableresources. Demand monitor 575 can intercept or receive orders or servicesubscriptions using request interceptor 580 as they are forwarded fromresource request interface 535 to policy manager 525. In someembodiments, demand monitor 575 may receive orders or servicesubscriptions in a batch at the end of a reporting period (e.g., dailyor hourly) from the policy manager 525, without intercepting orreceiving each order or service subscription. When demand monitor 575intercepts or receives an order or service subscription, demand monitor575 can forward the order or service subscription to policy manager 525and retain a copy of the order or service subscription. Request parser583 can analyze the order or service subscription to determine theconfigurable computing resources that are requested, the entity thatrequested the resources, and the time the resources were requested. Theparsed order or service subscription can then be added to an aggregaterequest history 585. Aggregate request history 585 can include a datastructure that stores a running list of orders or service subscriptionssorted by time, requestor, and by requested resource. Real time demandcalculator 590 can analyze the aggregate request history 585 over aparticular time period or request volume to determine demand over thattime period. Resource demand correlator 595 can also analyze theaggregate request history 585 to determine patterns in orders or servicesubscriptions. Dynamic resource sets or groups of configurable computingresources can be defined based on order or service subscription patternssuch that when a given configurable computing resource is requested,other resources in the dynamic resource set are also provisioned andconfigured to communicate with the requested resource.

FIGS. 7-10 depict simplified flowcharts depicting processing performedfor contribution policy-based and demand policy-based based resourceallocation according to embodiments of the present invention. The stepsof FIGS. 7-10 may be implemented in the environments of FIGS. 1-6 and11-15, for example. As noted herein, the flowcharts of FIGS. 7-10illustrate the architecture, functionality, and operation of possibleimplementations of systems, methods, and computer program productsaccording to various embodiments of the present invention. In thisregard, each block in the flowchart or block diagrams may represent amodule, segment, or portion of code, which comprises one or moreexecutable instructions for implementing the specified logicalfunctions. It should also be noted that, in some alternativeimplementations, the functions noted in the block may occur out of theorder noted in the figures. For example, two blocks show in successionmay, in fact, be executed substantially concurrently, or the blocks maysometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon thefunctionality involved. It will also be noted that each block of theblock diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, and combination of blocksin the block diagrams and/or flowchart illustration, can be implementedby special purpose hardware-based systems that perform the specifiedfunctions or acts, or combinations of special purpose hardware andcomputer instructions.

FIG. 7 depicts a simplified flowchart 600 depicting processing performedfor contribution policy-based resource allocation using contributionpolicies maintained by a policy manager. At step 605, a resourcesubmission can be received that identifies a contributable resource. Forexample as described above, resource submission interface 510 canreceive the resource submission from the user computer 540 and forwardthe resource submission to the policy manager 525. The resourcesubmission can specify the type of resource being contributed (e.g.,networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs, processing, memory, storage,applications, virtual machines, services, etc.) and the specifics of theresource such as name of the resource, memory, CPU information,operating system, additional hardware and/or software, etc. Thecontributable resource is owned or otherwise controlled (e.g., managed)by the user (e.g., a resource the user is no longer wholly or partiallyusing), such as local resource 550A and/or remote resource 550B.

At step 610, one or more contribution policies that may apply to theresource submission can be identified. For example, each contributionpolicy may specify one or more resource types of requestable resources(e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs, processing, memory,storage, applications, virtual machines, services, etc.) that may beprovided in exchange for the type of resource being contributed. Theidentification of the one or more contribution policies can comprisedetermining the resource type of the contributable resource based on theresource submission, and determining that the resource type matches oneor more resource types of contributable resources (within the one ormore contribution policies), the one or more resource types ofcontributable resources mapping to the one or more resource types ofrequestable resources in the one or more contribution policies.Accordingly, each contribution policy effectively represents an offer ofone or more types of requestable resources, which the user can accept orreject in exchange for the contributable resource. Once the applicablecontribution policies have been identified, the policy manager 525 canreturn the one or more types of requestable resources identified for theresource submission. In some embodiments, the identification of the oneor more contribution policies can be further developed usingcontribution policies that are more narrowly tailored or defined basedon any number of factors including the one or more type of requestableresource being available for use by the user, a demand level of the oneor more types of contributable and/or requestable resources, and auser's history of resource contribution, e.g., users with a history ofcontributing many resources may receive more favorable contributionpolicies or offers (e.g., more resources in exchange for a contributionthan would otherwise be provided based on current demand) than userswith a limited contribution history.

At step 615, identification of the one or more resource types ofrequestable resources that may be provided in exchange for the type ofresource being contributed can be sent to the user based on theidentified one or more contribution policies. For example, resourcesubmission interface 510 can send the identification of the one or moreresource types of the requestable resources from the policy manager 525to the user computer 540 based on the identified one or morecontribution policies. At step 620, upon rejection of at least one typeof the requestable resources by the user, the rejection can be received.For example, as described above, resource submission interface 510 canreceive the rejection of at least one type of the requestable resourcesfrom the user computer 540. At step 625, upon selection or acceptance ofat least one type of the requestable resources by the user, informationindicating a selection or acceptance of the at least one type of therequestable resources can be received. For example, as described above,resource submission interface 510 can receive information indicating aselection or acceptance of at least one type of the requestableresources from the user computer 540. In some embodiments, theinformation can also include access credentials (e.g., a username andpassword) that provide access to and control over the contributableresource identified in the resource submission.

At step 630, the user account history and resource pool can be updatedto indicate changes implemented from the selection or acceptance of theat least one type of the requestable resources. For example, the useraccount history 560 can be updated to indicate the contributableresource provided in exchange for the at least one type of therequestable resources in the contribution history 565. Additionally, thedata center index and/or resource index within the resource pool 530 canbe updated to indicate the availability of the contributable resourcefor servicing one or more users of the resource manager (e.g., adistributed system managed by an service provider).

At step 635, an order or service subscription can be received from theuser for a requestable resource. For example, resource submissioninterface 510 can receive the order or service subscription from theuser computer 540 and forward the order or service subscription to theresource manager 505. At step 640, a determination can be made as towhether the requestable resource is of the type available to the userthough the previous resource submission exchange (i.e., a requestableresource of the type previously selected or accepted in exchange for thecontributable resource). For example, the resource manager 505 can checkthe user account history 560 to determine whether the requestableresource is of the type promised in exchange for the contributableresource. At step 645, when the requestable resource is not of the typepromised in exchange for the contributable resource, the requestableresource can be allocated to the user in accordance with other order orservice subscription policies such as the placement or demandpolicy-based system(s) described herein and/or traditional order orservice subscription policies.

At step 650, when the requestable resource is of the type promised inexchange for the contributable resource, the requestable resource can beallocated to the user based on the previously identified one or morecontribution policies. For example, when the requestable resource is ofthe type promised in exchange for the contributable resource, theresource manager 505 can allocate and configure the requestable resourcefrom the resource pool 530 for servicing the user or consumer, and senda confirmation message to the user or consumer that the requestableresource has been allocated. The requestable resource may be anyconfigurable computing resource of the type selected or accepted by theuser. For example, if the type of requestable resource selected was aRAC node, then a request for a RAC one node, which normally runs onlyone instance against a shared set of data files, can be allocated andconfigured for servicing the user or consumer.

In some embodiments, the resource pool 530 from which the requestedresource is allocated may be a hypervisor pool managed by an IaaSprovider. In some embodiments, resource pool 530 may include a pluralityof resource pools that are distributed across multiple remote datacenters. As should be understood, the allocation and configuration ofthe requested resource can be further defined based on topologydefinitions and the placement policies, as discussed in detail abovewith respect to FIGS. 3 and 4.

At step 655, the user account history and resource pool can be updatedto indicate changes implemented from the order or service subscriptionfor the requestable resource. For example, the user account history 560can be updated to indicate the requestable resource has been allocatedto the user in the resource request history 570. Tracking the user'scontribution and order or service subscription histories enables theresource manager 505 to track whether the user has received the agreedupon requestable resource in exchange for the contributable resource.Additionally, the data center index and/or resource index within theresource pool 530 can be updated to indicate the allocation of therequestable resource for servicing the user.

FIG. 8 depicts a simplified flowchart 700 depicting processing performedfor contribution policy-based resource allocation using an order orservice subscription provided by a user. At step 705, an order orservice subscription, which includes an offer to contribute one or moreresources in exchange for one or more requestable resources, can bereceived. For example, as described above, resource submission interface510 can receive the order or service subscription from the user computer540 and forward the order or service subscription to the policy manager525. The order or service subscription can specify one or more resourcesowned or otherwise controlled by the user, such as local resource 550Aand/or remote resource 550B, which the user intends to contribute to apool of resources managed by resource manager 505. Additionally, theresource submission can specify one or more requestable resourcespreferred for use by the user. In some embodiments, the order or servicesubscription may also identify one or more users that the one or morecontributable resources are intended to service, one or more users fromwhich the one or more requestable resources may be provided (the defaultmay be the resource pool), and/or one or more geographic regions fromwhich the one or more requestable resources may be provided.

At step 710, the offer can be accepted, rejected, or countered. Forexample, the order or service subscription effectively represents anoffer of exchange of one or more types of contributable resources forone or more types of requestable resources that the policy manager 525can accept, reject, or counter (e.g., a counter offer of one or moreother types of requestable resources based on contribution policiesmaintained by the policy manager 525 in a process similar to thatdescribed with respect to steps 605 and 610 of FIG. 7). The acceptance,rejection, or counter of the order or service subscription can bedetermined by the policy manager 525 based on any number of factorsincluding but not limited to permissions granted from one or more usersfrom which the contributable and/or requestable resources may beprovided, availability and/or demand of the contributable and/orrequestable resources, equality of the exchange between the types of thecontributable resources and the types of the requestable resources, thecontribution policies maintained by policy manager 525, etc.

At step 715, upon rejection of the offer, the rejection of the order orservice subscription can be sent to the user and the process ends. Atstep 720, upon a counter offer of the offer, one or more other types ofrequestable resources identified as at least partially satisfying theorder or service subscription based on one or more contribution policiescan be sent to the user. For example, resource submission interface 510can send one or more other types of requestable resources from thepolicy manager 525 to the user computer 540 in a process similar to thatdescribed with respect to steps 610 and 615 of FIG. 7. Thereafter, theprocess can continue in a similar manner as described with respect tosteps 620-655 of FIG. 7.

At step 725, upon acceptance of the offer, the acceptance of the orderor service subscription can be sent to the user. For example asdescribed above, resource submission interface 510 can receive theacceptance of the offer from the policy manager 525 and forward theacceptance to the user computer 540. At step 730, access credentials(e.g., a username and password) can be received that provide access toand control over the one or more resources being contributed. Forexample, resource submission interface 510 can receive the accesscredentials from the user computer 540 and forward the accesscredentials to the resource manager 505. At step 735, the user accounthistory and resource pool can be updated to indicate changes implementedfrom the acceptance of the offer. For example, the user account history560 can be updated to indicate the one or more resources contributed bythe user in exchange for the one or more requestable resources in thecontribution history 565. Additionally, the data center index and/orresource index within the resource pool 530 can be updated to indicatethe availability of the one or more resources contributed for servicingone or more users of the resource manager (e.g., a distributed systemmanaged by an service provider).

At step 740, the one or more requested resources identified in the orderor service subscription can be allocated. For example, the resourcemanager 505 can allocate the one or more requested resources from theresource pool 530 for servicing the user, and send a confirmationmessage that the one or more requested resources has been allocated. Insome embodiments, resource pool 530 may be a hypervisor pool managed byan IaaS provider. In some embodiments, resource pool 530 may include aplurality of resource pools that are distributed across multiple remotedata centers. As should be understood, the allocation of the one or morerequested resources can be further defined based on topology definitionsand the placement policies, as discussed in detail above with respect toFIGS. 3 and 4.

At step 745, the user account history and resource pool can be updatedto indicate changes implemented from the acceptance of the order orservice subscription. For example, the user account history 560 can beupdated to indicate the one or more requested resources have beenallocated to the user in the resource request history 570. Tracking theuser's contribution and request histories enables the resource manager505 to track whether the user has received the agreed upon one or morerequested resources in exchange for the one or more contributableresources. Additionally, the data center index and/or resource indexwithin the resource pool 530 can be updated to indicate the allocationof the one or more requested resources for servicing the user.

As described above and shown in FIG. 6, resource manager 505 may includea demand monitor 575 that can track demand for configurable computingresources (e.g., networks, network bandwidth, servers, PODs, processing,memory, storage, applications, virtual machines, services, etc.) anddemand for particular sets of configurable computing resources. Suchmonitoring enables resource manager 505 to anticipate and pre-createcomplex, wired resource sets/groups based on customizable demandpolicies. This can be performed automatically, without requiringintervention by an administrator. This reduces setup time and improvesthe end user's experience by providing the configurable computingresources (i.e., resources) the end user needs in response to theirrequests with little or no setup time.

In some embodiments, demand policies can be generated based on knowndependencies between resources. For example if a first resource cannotbe used without also requesting a second resource, then a request foreither resource can automatically include the other. Additionally,demand policies can be based on known “trends”. For example, if anupgrade or new release of a resource is being pushed to market, thenumber of old versions of the resource pre-created can be reduced as thenumber of requests for new versions of the resource are received. Forexample, a first version of an application may require a first releasedatabase, while a second version of the application may require a secondrelease database. As the second version of the application is adopted,the number of requests or jobs from the second version of theapplication will increase. As this activity increases, a demand policyassociated with the application can be updated automatically to indicatean increased demand for the second release database. When this demandpolicy is applied, setups for the second release of the database aregiven priority over the first release of the database, graduallyincreasing the number of available second release databases. In someembodiments, release dates of new versions of various resources can alsobe used to automatically update how many of each version of a resourceare pre-created.

In some embodiments, the real time demand calculated by the demandmonitor can be used to pre-create resources that are seeing increaseddemand. For example, if a particular percentage of resource requestsinclude a certain type of POD, then the demand policy can be updated toautomatically pre-create more of that certain type of POD. Additionally,some resources require a particular set of resources to functioncorrectly. For example, an application suite may also require a databaseand an enterprise manager. These known dependencies can be stored in thedemand policy such that when the application suite is requested, thedependent resources are also provisioned and configured to communicatewith the application suite. In some embodiments, the set of resourcesmay vary dynamically based on demand. For example, the resource demandcorrelator 595 may identify additional resources that are regularlyrequested in addition to the dependent resources (e.g., based on apercentage of resource requests that include the additional resource).In these embodiments, the demand policy can be automatically updated toinclude these additional resources. By monitoring the demand for groupsof resources that are used together the demand policy can pre-create thesets of resources instead of individual resources, reducing the timerequired to set up resources when requested by a user.

In some embodiments, the lifecycles of existing resources can besimilarly managed based on current demand and resource usage. When aresource is no longer used, the resource is typically cleaned by theresource manager and returned to the resource pool. Determining when aresource is no longer used can be based on usage (e.g., how frequentlythe resource is used) or health (e.g., can other resources connect tothe resource, is the resource full, etc.). Lack of usage, or failure,can trigger cleanup or maintenance actions on the resource. However,this added cleanup step for resources that have not been used isunnecessary and, for in demand resources, time consuming. By tracking aparticular resource's utilization period/trend, the resource manager candetermine whether the resource has ever been used. For example, if astorage node is created, but no data is ever stored or retrieved fromit, then the resource manager can determine that the resource has notbeen used and it can be made available to other users without firstcleaning the resource.

FIG. 9 depicts a simplified flowchart 800 depicting processing performedfor demand policy-based resource allocation according to an embodimentof the present invention. At step 805, an order or subscription for aservice can be intercepted or received. For example as described abovewith respect to FIG. 6, the demand monitor 575 can intercept or receivethe order in real time using request interceptor 580 before passing theorder on for further processing at the resource manager 505. In someembodiments, the order can be sent to the demand monitor 575periodically in a batch for non-real time processing. At step 810, theorder can be parsed to identify request data comprising the one or morerequested resources, the requestor, and other request data (e.g.,request time). For example, the request parser 583 can take the order(i.e., input data) and build a data structure (e.g., a parse tree orother hierarchical structure) that provides a structural representationof the request data (e.g., the one or more requested resources, therequestor, and other request data) within the order, which allows forpattern matching and the extraction of data.

At step 815, the request data can be added to an aggregate history datastructure. For example, the data structure that provides a structuralrepresentation of the request data from the order can be added to theaggregate history data structure 585, which includes an aggregate ofrequest data for resources within the resource pool. The aggregatehistory data structure 585 comprises data structures from any number ofpreviously parsed orders or subscriptions for services. Each order canbe time stamped as the order is received, and the aggregate history datastructure 585 can be sorted by resource, requestor, or other requestdata. At step 820, for a given resource (e.g., a resource requested inan order or any resource within the resource pool), real-time demand canbe calculated for the given resource using a current request volumeobtained from the aggregate of request data for the resources within theresource pool. For example, in a particular time period (rollingaverage, historical time period, etc.) the percentage of orders thatinclude the given resource can be determined using real-time demandcalculator 590 and the aggregate history data structure 585.Additionally, a percentage of orders can be correlated to the real-timedemand calculated for the given resource relative to other resourceswithin the resource pool using the real time demand calculator 590 andthe aggregate history data structure 585.

At step 825, the order received in step 805 can be correlated with atleast one other order from the previously parsed orders or subscriptionsfor services based on at least one component of the request data beingthe same between the order and the at least one other order. Forexample, resource demand correlator 595 can determine correlationsbetween two or more orders based on a same user submitting the orders(e.g., for a user who requests an application suite, the userconcurrently or subsequently requests a database, and thus, the resourcedemand correlator 595 could correlate the database with the applicationsuite). The order can be correlated to the at least one other orderbased on any number of data components obtainable from the aggregatedata structure including the requestor or user, a particular time framein which the resource request was obtained, a type of resourcerequested, and/or any other data. At step 830, based on the correlatedorders, sets of resources can be identified that are commonly requestedacross users. For example, demand monitor 575 can identify and storeknown dependencies between resources as a set of resources based on thecorrelated orders such that when a primary resource (e.g., anapplication suite) is requested, the dependent resources (e.g., adatabase) are also provisioned and configured to communicate with theprimary resource. In some embodiments, the set of resources may varydynamically based on the calculated real time demand for resources fromstep 820. For example, the resource demand correlator 595 may identifyadditional resources that are regularly requested in addition to theprimary and dependent resources (e.g., based on a percentage of ordersthat include the primary resource, the dependent resources, and theadditional resources). In these embodiments, the identified and storedsets of resources can be automatically updated to include theseadditional resources.

FIG. 10 depicts a simplified flowchart 850 depicting processingperformed for demand policy-based resource allocation according to anembodiment of the present invention. At step 855, utilization of eachresource within the recourse pool can be tracked. For example, in aparticular time period (rolling average, historical time period, etc.),the use of each resource can be determined using resource pool 530, realtime demand calculator 590, and the aggregate history data structure585. By tracking a particular resource's utilization period/trend, theresource manager 505 can determine whether the resource has ever beenused, whether the resource has been used recently, the frequency of useof the resource, and/or whether the resource is currently being used.

At step 860, one or more demand policies can be generated or updatedbased on at least one of: (i) the calculated demand for resources(calculated in step 820 of FIG. 9), (ii) the identified resources andsets of resources (identified in step 830 of FIG. 9), (iii) theidentification of additional resources for the sets of resources(optionally identified in step 830 of FIG. 9), and (iv) the trackedutilization of resources (identified in step 855 of FIG. 10). In someembodiments, the real time demand calculated by the demand monitor 575can be used to generate or update one or more demand policies forresource allocations such that resources can be preemptively created bythe resource manager 505 and added to the resource pool. For example, ifa particular percentage of resource requests include one or moresecondary resources, then the demand policy can be updated toautomatically pre-create one or more additional instances of thesecondary resource, or if a new application suite is being introducedthat requires one or more resources, then the demand policy can beupdated to automatically pre-create more instances of the one or moreresources.

Additionally in some embodiments, the demand monitor 575 can identifyand store known dependencies between resources as a set of resources inone or more demand policies based on the correlated resource requestssuch that when a primary resource is requested, the dependent resources(e.g., a database) are also provisioned and configured to communicatewith the primary resource. For example, an application suite may alsorequire a database and an enterprise manager. These known dependenciescan be stored in the demand policy such that when the application suiteis requested, the database and enterprise manager are also provisionedand configured to communicate with the application suite. In someembodiments, the identified set of resources may vary dynamically basedon the calculated demand for the resources. For example, the resourcedemand correlator 595 may identify additional resources that areregularly requested in addition to the dependent resources. In theseembodiments, the demand policy can be automatically updated to includethese additional resources. By monitoring the demand for groups ofresources that are used together, the demand policy can be used topreemptively create the sets of resources, configure the resources tocommunicate with one another, and add the resources to the resourcepool, instead of individual resources, reducing the time required to setup resources when requested by a user.

Additionally in some embodiments, demand monitor 575 can identifyresources that have never been used, resources that have been usedrecently, the frequency of use of each resource, and/or whetherresources are currently being used, and generate or update one or moredemand policies to control allocation of the resources based on suchutilization information. For example, if a resource is created, but theresource has never been accessed by a user, then the resource manager905 can determine that the resource has not been used and the resourcecan be reallocated based on the one or more demand policies to otherusers without first cleaning the resource. On the other hand, if aresource is created, but the resource has not been accessed by a userfor a predetermined amount of time (e.g., two months), then the resourcemanager 905 can determine that the resource is no longer in use and theresource can be reallocated based on the one or more demand policies toother users after cleaning the resource.

At step 865, one or more resources can be automatically pre-created(preemptively created), added to the resource pool, removed from theresource pool, and/or cleaned based on the generated or updated one ormore demand policies. For example, the resource manager 505 canautomatically pre-create the one or more resources and add thepre-created one or more resources to the resource pool for servicing oneor more users based on the generated or updated one or more demandpolicies. In some embodiments, the resource manager 505 canautomatically remove the one or more resources from the recource poolbased on the generated or updated one or more demand policies. In otherembodiments, the resource manager 505 can automatically clean the one ormore resources within the recource pool based on the generated orupdated one or more demand policies.

At step 870, one or more requested resources associated with the one ormore demand policies can be allocated to one or more users. For example,the resource manager 505 can allocate the one or more requestedresources from the resource pool for servicing one or more users basedon the one or more demand policies, and send a confirmation message thatthe one or more requested resources has been allocated. In someembodiments, the resource pool may be a hypervisor pool managed by anIaaS provider. In some embodiments, the resource pool may include aplurality of resource pools that are distributed across multiple remotedata centers. As should be understood, the allocation of the one or morerequested resources can be further defined based on topologydefinitions, the placement policies, and contribution policies, asdiscussed in detail above with respect to FIGS. 1-8. At step 875, theuser account history and resource pool can be updated to indicatechanges implemented from the utilization of the one or more demandpolicies. For example, the data center index, resource index, and/oruser account history 560 can be updated to indicate the one or morerequested resources have been pre-created and/or allocated to the one ormore users.

In some embodiments, the above described systems and processes forproviding placement policy-based, contribution policy-based, and demandpolicy-based resource management and allocation may be implemented in asingle resource manager. FIG. 11 depicts a simplified high level diagramof a network environment 900 that may incorporate an embodiment of thepresent invention. As shown in FIG. 11, resource manager 905 (e.g., aresource management system 105 or resource manager 305; 505 as describedabove with respect to FIGS. 2, 4 and 6, receptively) can manage requestsfrom users 910 and 915. These requests can include resource contributionsubmissions from users 910, where a user makes one or more resources theuser owns, possesses, or otherwise controls, available to the resourcemanager 905 to be added to the resource pool. The requests may alsoinclude resource requests from users 915 for one or more resources fromthe resource pool. Users 910 and users 915 may include the same users,different users, or any combination thereof Requests may be receivedfrom one or more user (or client) devices at resource manager 905 over anetwork 920A and/or 920B. In some embodiments, the users 910 maycontribute resources in exchange for particular functional guarantees,discounts, or other incentives that may be applied to subsequent orcontemporaneous resource requests, as described above.

Users 910 and 915 are communicatively coupled to resource manager 905via the communication networks 920A and 920B. The embodiment depicted inFIG. 11 is merely an example and is not intended to unduly limit theclaimed embodiments of the present invention. One of ordinary skill inthe art would recognize many variations, alternatives, andmodifications. For example, there may be more or fewer user devices thanthose shown in FIG. 11. The user devices may be of various differenttypes, including, but not limited to personal computers, desktops,mobile or handheld devices such as a laptop, a mobile phone, a tablet,etc., and other types of devices. Communication networks 920A and 920Bfacilitates communications between the user devices and resource manager905. Communication networks 920A and 920B can be of various types andcan include one or more communication networks. Examples ofcommunication networks 920A and 920B include, without restriction, theInternet, a wide area network (WAN), a local area network (LAN), anEthernet network, a public or private network, a wired network, awireless network, and the like, and combinations thereof Differentcommunication protocols may be used to facilitate the communicationsincluding both wired and wireless protocols such as IEEE 802.XX suite ofprotocols, TCP/IP, IPX, SAN, AppleTalk, Bluetooth, and other protocols.In general, communication networks 920A and 920B may include anycommunication network or infrastructure that facilitates communicationsbetween clients and resource manager 905.

Users 910 may each own, possess, or otherwise control one or morecomputing resources 925-1 to 925-M. For example, a user may havepurchased a particular number of computing nodes from another cloudinfrastructure provider which the user may control. Similarly, a usermay own a network connected hardware cluster that is configured toprovide a hypervisor pool which may run one or more virtual machines. Asdescribed above the computing resources may include networks, networkbandwidth, servers, PODs, processing, memory, storage, applications,virtual machines, services, etc..

In certain embodiments, a user may use a program or application executedby the user's user device to configure a webpage request. An example ofsuch a program is a web browser, which may be used to generate webpagerequests and output webpages received in response to the requests. Forexample, a user may request a webpage by providing a Uniform ResourceLocator (URL) corresponding to the webpage to the browser or by takingan action (e.g., clicking on a URL) that invokes a URL corresponding tothe webpage. This causes the browser to generate a webpage request thatis then communicated to the website hosting the particular webpage. Awebpage received in response to the webpage request is then loaded andoutput to the user by the browser. Examples of browsers include withoutrestriction various versions of Windows Internet Explorer (IE), AppleSafari, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Opera, and others.

As described above, users 910 may submit a resource submission toresource manager 905, which details the computing resources beingcontributed by the user. The resource manager 905 may receive thesubmission through a resource submission interface 930. The users 915may submit a resource request to resource manager 905, which details thecomputing resources being requested by the user. The resource manager905 may receive the request through a resource request interface 955.The resource manager 905 may include a policy manager 935, demandmonitor 940, resource pool 945, and user account history 950. Usingthese modules, as described similarly with respect to FIGS. 4 and 6,resource manager 905 can pre-create resources and sets of resources inanticipation of demand, manage resource contributions and requests, andenable users to specify placement policies for resource requests, asdescribed above with respect to FIGS. 1-10. The resources and sets ofresources provided by and to the users 910 and 915 may be located in oneor more data centers 960A-960I, which may be located in differentgeographical regions 965A and 965B.

In the embodiments depicted in FIGS. 1-11, resource manager 905 mayserve as a central management platform that receives resourcesubmissions and resource requests from users 910 and 915. FIG. 12depicts an alternative embodiment 970 that may incorporate teachings ofthe present invention. Common components in FIG. 11 are referenced usingthe same reference numbers. As shown in the embodiment depicted in FIG.12, the resource management functionality and the request managementfunctionality may be separated from each other. A request manager 975may include resource submission interface 930 and resource requestinterface 955. The request manager 975 may also include demand monitor940, which analyzes the requests substantially similarly to theembodiments described above with respect to FIGS. 1-11 and user accounthistory 950. Request manager 975 can communicate resource and/orcontribution requests to resource manager 905. Resource manager 905 caninclude policy manager 935 and resource pool 945. Resource manager 905can communicate with data centers 960A-960I in accordance with messagesreceived from request manager 975.

FIG. 13 depicts a simplified diagram of a distributed system 1000 forimplementing an embodiment. In the illustrated embodiment, distributedsystem 1000 includes one or more client computing devices 1002, 1004,1006, and 1008, which are configured to execute and operate a clientapplication such as a web browser, proprietary client (e.g., OracleForms), or the like over one or more network(s) 1010. Server 1012 may becommunicatively coupled with remote client computing devices 1002, 1004,1006, and 1008 via network 1010.

In various embodiments, server 1012 may be adapted to run one or moreservices or software applications such as services and applications forplacement, contribution, and/or demand policy-based resource allocation.In certain embodiments, server 1012 may also provide other services orsoftware applications can include non-virtual and virtual environments.In some embodiments, these services may be offered as web-based or cloudservices or under a SaaS model to the users of client computing devices1002, 1004, 1006, and/or 1008. Users operating client computing devices1002, 1004, 1006, and/or 1008 may in turn utilize one or more clientapplications to interact with server 1012 to utilize the servicesprovided by these components.

In the configuration depicted in FIG. 13, software components 1018, 1020and 1022 of system 1000 are shown as being implemented on server 1012.In other embodiments, one or more of the components of system 1000and/or the services provided by these components may also be implementedby one or more of the client computing devices 1002, 1004, 1006, and/or1008. Users operating the client computing devices may then utilize oneor more client applications to use the services provided by thesecomponents. These components may be implemented in hardware, firmware,software, or combinations thereof. It should be appreciated that variousdifferent system configurations are possible, which may be differentfrom distributed system 1000. The embodiment shown in FIG. 13 is thusone example of a distributed system for implementing an embodimentsystem and is not intended to be limiting.

Client computing devices 1002, 1004, 1006, and/or 1008 may includevarious types of computing systems. For example, a client computingdevice may include portable handheld devices (e.g., an iPhone®, cellulartelephone, an iPad®, computing tablet, a personal digital assistant(PDA)) or wearable devices (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounted display),running software such as Microsoft Windows Mobile®, and/or a variety ofmobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows Phone, Android, BlackBerry10, Palm OS, and the like. The devices may support various applicationssuch as various Internet-related apps, e-mail, short message service(SMS) applications, and may use various other communication protocols.The client computing devices may also include general purpose personalcomputers including, by way of example, personal computers and/or laptopcomputers running various versions of Microsoft Windows®, AppleMacintosh®, and/or Linux operating systems. The client computing devicescan be workstation computers running any of a variety ofcommercially-available UNIX® or UNIX-like operating systems, includingwithout limitation the variety of GNU/Linux operating systems, such asfor example, Google Chrome OS. Client computing devices may also includeelectronic devices such as a thin-client computer, an Internet-enabledgaming system (e.g., a Microsoft Xbox gaming console with or without aKinect® gesture input device), and/or a personal messaging device,capable of communicating over network(s) 1010.

Although distributed system 1000 in FIG. 13 is shown with four clientcomputing devices, any number of client computing devices may besupported. Other devices, such as devices with sensors, etc., mayinteract with server 1012.

Network(s) 1010 in distributed system 1000 may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of available protocols, includingwithout limitation TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/Internetprotocol), SNA (systems network architecture), IPX (Internet packetexchange), AppleTalk, and the like. Merely by way of example, network(s)1010 can be a local area network (LAN), networks based on Ethernet,Token-Ring, a wide-area network, the Internet, a virtual network, avirtual private network (VPN), an intranet, an extranet, a publicswitched telephone network (PSTN), an infra-red network, a wirelessnetwork (e.g., a network operating under any of the Institute ofElectrical and Electronics (IEEE) 1002.11 suite of protocols,Bluetooth®, and/or any other wireless protocol), and/or any combinationof these and/or other networks.

Server 1012 may be composed of one or more general purpose computers,specialized server computers (including, by way of example, PC (personalcomputer) servers, UNIXO servers, mid-range servers, mainframecomputers, rack-mounted servers, etc.), server farms, server clusters,or any other appropriate arrangement and/or combination. Server 1012 caninclude one or more virtual machines running virtual operating systems,or other computing architectures involving virtualization. One or moreflexible pools of logical storage devices can be virtualized to maintainvirtual storage devices for the server. Virtual networks can becontrolled by server 1012 using software defined networking In variousembodiments, server 1012 may be adapted to run one or more services orsoftware applications described in the foregoing disclosure. Forexample, server 1012 may correspond to a server for performingprocessing as described above according to an embodiment of the presentdisclosure.

Server 1012 may run an operating system including any of those discussedabove, as well as any commercially available server operating system.Server 1012 may also run any of a variety of additional serverapplications and/or mid-tier applications, including HTTP (hypertexttransport protocol) servers, FTP (file transfer protocol) servers, CGI(common gateway interface) servers, JAVA® servers, database servers, andthe like. Exemplary database servers include without limitation thosecommercially available from Oracle, Microsoft, Sybase, IBM(International Business Machines), and the like.

In some implementations, server 1012 may include one or moreapplications to analyze and consolidate data feeds and/or event updatesreceived from users of client computing devices 1002, 1004, 1006, and1008. As an example, data feeds and/or event updates may include, butare not limited to, Twitter® feeds, Facebook® updates or real-timeupdates received from one or more third party information sources andcontinuous data streams, which may include real-time events related tosensor data applications, financial tickers, network performancemeasuring tools (e.g., network monitoring and traffic managementapplications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like. Server 1012 may also include one or moreapplications to display the data feeds and/or real-time events via oneor more display devices of client computing devices 1002, 1004, 1006,and 1008.

Distributed system 1000 may also include one or more databases 1014 and1016. These databases may provide a mechanism for storing informationsuch as user request and/or contribution histories, demand policy-basedresource correlation information, policy definitions, and otherinformation used by embodiments of the present invention. Databases 1014and 1016 may reside in a variety of locations. By way of example, one ormore of databases 1014 and 1016 may reside on a non-transitory storagemedium local to (and/or resident in) server 1012. Alternatively,databases 1014 and 1016 may be remote from server 1012 and incommunication with server 1012 via a network-based or dedicatedconnection. In one set of embodiments, databases 1014 and 1016 mayreside in a storage-area network (SAN). Similarly, any necessary filesfor performing the functions attributed to server 1012 may be storedlocally on server 1012 and/or remotely, as appropriate. In one set ofembodiments, databases 1014 and 1016 may include relational databases,such as databases provided by Oracle, that are adapted to store, update,and retrieve data in response to SQL-formatted commands.

In some embodiments, a cloud environment may be provide one or moreservices for placement, contribution, and/or demand policy-basedresource allocation. FIG. 14 is a simplified block diagram of one ormore components of a system environment 1100 in which services may beoffered as cloud services, in accordance with an embodiment of thepresent disclosure. In the illustrated embodiment in FIG. 14, systemenvironment 1100 includes one or more client computing devices 1104,1106, and 1108 that may be used by users to interact with a cloudinfrastructure system 1102 that provides cloud services, includingservices for placement, contribution, and/or demand policy-basedresource allocation. Cloud infrastructure system 1102 may comprise oneor more computers and/or servers that may include those described abovefor server 1012.

It should be appreciated that cloud infrastructure system 1102 depictedin FIG. 14 may have other components than those depicted. Further, theembodiment shown in FIG. 14 is only one example of a cloudinfrastructure system that may incorporate an embodiment of theinvention. In some other embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1102may have more or fewer components than shown in the figure, may combinetwo or more components, or may have a different configuration orarrangement of components.

Client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 may be devices similar tothose described above for client computing devices 1002, 1004, 1006, and1008. Client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 may be configured tooperate a client application such as a web browser, a proprietary clientapplication (e.g., Oracle Forms), or some other application, which maybe used by a user of the client computing device to interact with cloudinfrastructure system 1102 to use services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 1102. Although exemplary system environment 1100is shown with three client computing devices, any number of clientcomputing devices may be supported. Other devices such as devices withsensors, etc. may interact with cloud infrastructure system 1102.

Network(s) 1110 may facilitate communications and exchange of databetween client computing devices 1104, 1106, and 1108 and cloudinfrastructure system 1102. Each network may be any type of networkfamiliar to those skilled in the art that can support datacommunications using any of a variety of commercially-availableprotocols, including those described above for network(s) 1010.

In certain embodiments, services provided by cloud infrastructure system1102 may include a host of services that are made available to users ofthe cloud infrastructure system on demand. In addition to servicesrelated to placement, contribution, and/or demand policy-based resourceallocation, various other services may also be offered including withoutlimitation online data storage and backup solutions, Web-based e-mailservices, hosted office suites and document collaboration services,database processing, managed technical support services, and the like.Services provided by the cloud infrastructure system can dynamicallyscale to meet the needs of its users.

In certain embodiments, a specific instantiation of a service providedby cloud infrastructure system 1102 may be referred to herein as a“service instance.” In general, any service made available to a user viaa communication network, such as the Internet, from a cloud serviceprovider's system is referred to as a “cloud service.” Typically, in apublic cloud environment, servers and systems that make up the cloudservice provider's system are different from the user's own on-premisesservers and systems. For example, a cloud service provider's system mayhost an application, and a user may, via a communication network such asthe Internet, on demand, order and use the application.

In some examples, a service in a computer network cloud infrastructuremay include protected computer network access to storage, a hosteddatabase, a hosted web server, a software application, or other serviceprovided by a cloud vendor to a user, or as otherwise known in the art.For example, a service can include password-protected access to remotestorage on the cloud through the Internet. As another example, a servicecan include a web service-based hosted relational database and ascript-language middleware engine for private use by a networkeddeveloper. As another example, a service can include access to an emailsoftware application hosted on a cloud vendor's web site.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1102 may include asuite of applications, middleware, and database service offerings thatare delivered to a user in a self-service, subscription-based,elastically scalable, reliable, highly available, and secure manner. Anexample of such a cloud infrastructure system is the Oracle Public Cloudprovided by the present assignee.

Cloud infrastructure system 1102 may also provide “big data” elatedcomputation and analysis services. The term “big data” is generally usedto refer to extremely large data sets that can be stored and manipulatedby analysts and researchers to visualize large amounts of data, detecttrends, and/or otherwise interact with the data. This big data andrelated applications can be hosted and/or manipulated by aninfrastructure system on many levels and at different scales. Tens,hundreds, or thousands of processors linked in parallel can act uponsuch data in order to present it or simulate external forces on the dataor what it represents. These data sets can involve structured data, suchas that organized in a database or otherwise according to a structuredmodel, and/or unstructured data (e.g., emails, images, data blobs(binary large objects), web pages, complex event processing). Byleveraging an ability of an embodiment to relatively quickly focus more(or fewer) computing resources upon an objective, the cloudinfrastructure system may be better available to carry out tasks onlarge data sets based on demand from a business, government agency,research organization, private individual, group of like-mindedindividuals or organizations, or other entity.

In various embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1102 may be adaptedto automatically provision, manage and track a user's subscription toservices offered by cloud infrastructure system 1102. Cloudinfrastructure system 1102 may provide the cloud services via differentdeployment models. For example, services may be provided under a publiccloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 1102 is owned by anorganization selling cloud services (e.g., owned by Oracle Corporation)and the services are made available to the general public or differentindustry enterprises. As another example, services may be provided undera private cloud model in which cloud infrastructure system 1102 isoperated solely for a single organization and may provide services forone or more entities within the organization. The cloud services mayalso be provided under a community cloud model in which cloudinfrastructure system 1102 and the services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 1102 are shared by several organizations in arelated community. The cloud services may also be provided under ahybrid cloud model, which is a combination of two or more differentmodels.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 1102 may include one or more services provided under SaaScategory, PaaS category, IaaS category, or other categories of servicesincluding hybrid services. A user, via a subscription order, may orderone or more services provided by cloud infrastructure system 1102. Cloudinfrastructure system 1102 then performs processing to provide theservices in the user's subscription order.

In some embodiments, the services provided by cloud infrastructuresystem 1102 may include, without limitation, application services,platform services and infrastructure services. In some examples,application services may be provided by the cloud infrastructure systemvia a SaaS platform. The SaaS platform may be configured to providecloud services that fall under the SaaS category. For example, the SaaSplatform may provide capabilities to build and deliver a suite ofon-demand applications on an integrated development and deploymentplatform. The SaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the SaaS services. Byutilizing the services provided by the SaaS platform, users can utilizeapplications executing on the cloud infrastructure system. Users canacquire the application services without the need for users to purchaseseparate licenses and support. Various different SaaS services may beprovided. Examples include, without limitation, services that providesolutions for sales performance management, enterprise integration, andbusiness flexibility for large organizations.

In some embodiments, platform services may be provided by cloudinfrastructure system 1102 via a PaaS platform. The PaaS platform may beconfigured to provide cloud services that fall under the PaaS category.Examples of platform services may include without limitation servicesthat enable organizations (such as Oracle) to consolidate existingapplications on a shared, common architecture, as well as the ability tobuild new applications that leverage the shared services provided by theplatform. The PaaS platform may manage and control the underlyingsoftware and infrastructure for providing the PaaS services. Users canacquire the PaaS services provided by cloud infrastructure system 1102without the need for users to purchase separate licenses and support.Examples of platform services include, without limitation, Oracle JavaCloud Service (JCS), Oracle Database Cloud Service (DBCS), and others.

By utilizing the services provided by the PaaS platform, users canemploy programming languages and tools supported by the cloudinfrastructure system and also control the deployed services. In someembodiments, platform services provided by the cloud infrastructuresystem may include database cloud services, middleware cloud services(e.g., Oracle Fusion Middleware services), and Java cloud services. Inone embodiment, database cloud services may support shared servicedeployment models that enable organizations to pool database resourcesand offer users a Database as a Service in the form of a database cloud.Middleware cloud services may provide a platform for users to developand deploy various business applications, and Java cloud services mayprovide a platform for users to deploy Java applications, in the cloudinfrastructure system.

Various different infrastructure services may be provided by an IaaSplatform in the cloud infrastructure system. The infrastructure servicesfacilitate the management and control of the underlying computingresources, such as storage, networks, and other fundamental computingresources for users utilizing services provided by the SaaS platform andthe PaaS platform.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1102 may alsoinclude infrastructure resources 1130 for providing the resources usedto provide various services to users of the cloud infrastructure system.In one embodiment, infrastructure resources 1130 may includepre-integrated and optimized combinations of hardware, such as servers,storage, and networking resources to execute the services provided bythe PaaS platform and the SaaS platform, and other resources.

In some embodiments, resources in cloud infrastructure system 1102 maybe shared by multiple users and dynamically re-allocated per demand.Additionally, resources may be allocated to users in different timezones. For example, cloud infrastructure system 1102 may enable a firstset of users in a first time zone to utilize resources of the cloudinfrastructure system for a specified number of hours and then enablethe re-allocation of the same resources to another set of users locatedin a different time zone, thereby maximizing the utilization ofresources.

In certain embodiments, a number of internal shared services 1132 may beprovided that are shared by different components or modules of cloudinfrastructure system 1102 to enable provision of services by cloudinfrastructure system 1102. These internal shared services may include,without limitation, a security and identity service, an integrationservice, an enterprise repository service, an enterprise managerservice, a virus scanning and white list service, a high availability,backup and recovery service, service for enabling cloud support, anemail service, a notification service, a file transfer service, and thelike.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1102 may providecomprehensive management of cloud services (e.g., SaaS, PaaS, and IaaSservices) in the cloud infrastructure system. In one embodiment, cloudmanagement functionality may include capabilities for provisioning,managing and tracking a user's subscription received by cloudinfrastructure system 1102, and the like.

In one embodiment, as depicted in FIG. 14, cloud managementfunctionality may be provided by one or more modules, such as an ordermanagement module 1120, an order orchestration module 1122, an orderprovisioning module 1124, an order management and monitoring module1126, and an identity management module 1128. These modules may includeor be provided using one or more computers and/or servers, which may begeneral purpose computers, specialized server computers, server farms,server clusters, or any other appropriate arrangement and/orcombination.

In an exemplary operation, at 1134, a user using a client device, suchas computing devices 1104, 1106 or 1108, may interact with cloudinfrastructure system 1102 by requesting one or more services providedby cloud infrastructure system 1102 and placing an order for asubscription for one or more services offered by cloud infrastructuresystem 1102. In certain embodiments, the user may access a cloud UserInterface (UI) such as cloud UI 1112, cloud UI 1114 and/or cloud UI 1116and place a subscription order via these UIs. The order informationreceived by cloud infrastructure system 1102 in response to the userplacing an order may include information identifying the user and one ormore services offered by the cloud infrastructure system 1102 that theuser intends to subscribe to.

At 1136, the order information received from the user may be stored inan order database 1118. If this is a new order, a new record may becreated for the order. In one embodiment, order database 1118 can be oneof several databases operated by cloud infrastructure system 1118 andoperated in conjunction with other system elements.

At 1138, the order information may be forwarded to an order managementmodule 1120 that may be configured to perform billing and accountingfunctions related to the order, such as verifying the order, and uponverification, booking the order.

At 1140, information regarding the order may be communicated to an orderorchestration module 1122 that is configured to orchestrate theprovisioning of services and resources for the order placed by the user.In some instances, order orchestration module 1122 may use the servicesof order provisioning module 1124 for the provisioning. In certainembodiments, order orchestration module 1122 enables the management ofbusiness processes associated with each order and applies business logicto determine whether an order should proceed to provisioning.

As shown in the embodiment depicted in FIG. 14, at 1142, upon receivingan order for a new subscription, order orchestration module 1122 sends arequest to order provisioning module 1124 to allocate resources andconfigure resources needed to fulfill the subscription order. Orderprovisioning module 1124 enables the allocation of resources for theservices ordered by the user. Order provisioning module 1124 provides alevel of abstraction between the cloud services provided by cloudinfrastructure system 1100 and the physical implementation layer that isused to provision the resources for providing the requested services.This enables order orchestration module 1122 to be isolated fromimplementation details, such as whether or not services and resourcesare actually provisioned on the fly or pre-provisioned and onlyallocated/assigned upon request.

At 1144, once the services and resources are provisioned, a notificationmay be sent to the subscribing users indicating that the requestedservice is now ready for use. In some instance, information (e.g. alink) may be sent to the user that enables the user to start using therequested services.

At 1146, a user's subscription order may be managed and tracked by anorder management and monitoring module 1126. In some instances, ordermanagement and monitoring module 1126 may be configured to collect usagestatistics regarding a user use of subscribed services. For example,statistics may be collected for the amount of storage used, the amountdata transferred, the number of users, and the amount of system up timeand system down time, and the like.

In certain embodiments, cloud infrastructure system 1100 may include anidentity management module 1128 that is configured to provide identityservices, such as access management and authorization services in cloudinfrastructure system 1100. In some embodiments, identity managementmodule 1128 may control information about users who wish to utilize theservices provided by cloud infrastructure system 1102. Such informationcan include information that authenticates the identities of such usersand information that describes which actions those users are authorizedto perform relative to various system resources (e.g., files,directories, applications, communication ports, memory segments, etc.)Identity management module 1128 may also include the management ofdescriptive information about each user and about how and by whom thatdescriptive information can be accessed and modified.

FIG. 15 illustrates an exemplary computer system 1200 that may be usedto implement an embodiment of the present invention. In someembodiments, computer system 1200 may be used to implement any of thevarious servers and computer systems described above. As shown in FIG.15, computer system 1200 includes various subsystems including aprocessing unit 1204 that communicates with a number of peripheralsubsystems via a bus subsystem 1202. These peripheral subsystems mayinclude a processing acceleration unit 1206, an I/O subsystem 1208, astorage subsystem 1218 and a communications subsystem 1224. Storagesubsystem 1218 may include tangible computer-readable storage media 1222and a system memory 1210.

Bus subsystem 1202 provides a mechanism for letting the variouscomponents and subsystems of computer system 1200 communicate with eachother as intended. Although bus subsystem 1202 is shown schematically asa single bus, alternative embodiments of the bus subsystem may utilizemultiple buses. Bus subsystem 1202 may be any of several types of busstructures including a memory bus or memory controller, a peripheralbus, and a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures. Forexample, such architectures may include an Industry StandardArchitecture (ISA) bus, Micro Channel Architecture (MCA) bus, EnhancedISA (EISA) bus, Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) localbus, and Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) bus, which can beimplemented as a Mezzanine bus manufactured to the IEEE P1386.1standard, and the like.

Processing subsystem 1204 controls the operation of computer system 1200and may comprise one or more processing units 1232, 1234, etc. Aprocessing unit may include be one or more processors, including singlecore or multicore processors, one or more cores of processors, orcombinations thereof. In some embodiments, processing subsystem 1204 caninclude one or more special purpose co-processors such as graphicsprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs), or the like. In someembodiments, some or all of the processing units of processing subsystem1204 can be implemented using customized circuits, such as applicationspecific integrated circuits (ASICs), or field programmable gate arrays(FPGAs).

In some embodiments, the processing units in processing subsystem 1204can execute instructions stored in system memory 1210 or on computerreadable storage media 1222. In various embodiments, the processingunits can execute a variety of programs or code instructions and canmaintain multiple concurrently executing programs or processes. At anygiven time, some or all of the program code to be executed can beresident in system memory 1210 and/or on computer-readable storage media810 including potentially on one or more storage devices. Throughsuitable programming, processing subsystem 1204 can provide variousfunctionalities described above for placement, contribution, and/ordemand policy-based resource allocation.

In certain embodiments, a processing acceleration unit 1206 may beprovided for performing customized processing or for off-loading some ofthe processing performed by processing subsystem 1204 so as toaccelerate the overall processing performed by computer system 1200.

I/O subsystem 1208 may include devices and mechanisms for inputtinginformation to computer system 1200 and/or for outputting informationfrom or via computer system 1200. In general, use of the term “inputdevice” is intended to include all possible types of devices andmechanisms for inputting information to computer system 1200. Userinterface input devices may include, for example, a keyboard, pointingdevices such as a mouse or trackball, a touchpad or touch screenincorporated into a display, a scroll wheel, a click wheel, a dial, abutton, a switch, a keypad, audio input devices with voice commandrecognition systems, microphones, and other types of input devices. Userinterface input devices may also include motion sensing and/or gesturerecognition devices such as the Microsoft Kinect® motion sensor thatenables users to control and interact with an input device, theMicrosoft Xbox® 360 game controller, devices that provide an interfacefor receiving input using gestures and spoken commands. User interfaceinput devices may also include eye gesture recognition devices such asthe Google Glass® blink detector that detects eye activity (e.g.,“blinking” while taking pictures and/or making a menu selection) fromusers and transforms the eye gestures as input into an input device(e.g., Google Glass®). Additionally, user interface input devices mayinclude voice recognition sensing devices that enable users to interactwith voice recognition systems (e.g., Ski® navigator), through voicecommands.

Other examples of user interface input devices include, withoutlimitation, three dimensional (3D) mice, joysticks or pointing sticks,gamepads and graphic tablets, and audio/visual devices such as speakers,digital cameras, digital camcorders, portable media players, webcams,image scanners, fingerprint scanners, barcode reader 3D scanners, 3Dprinters, laser rangefinders, and eye gaze tracking devices.Additionally, use interface input devices may include, for example,medical imaging input devices such as computed tomography, magneticresonance imaging, position emission tomography, medical ultrasonographydevices. User interface input devices may also include, for example,audio input devices such as MIDI keyboards, digital musical instrumentsand the like.

User interface output devices may include a display subsystem, indicatorlights, or non-visual displays such as audio output devices, etc. Thedisplay subsystem may be a cathode ray tube (CRT), a flat-panel device,such as that using a liquid crystal display (LCD) or plasma display, aprojection device, a touch screen, and the like. In general, use of theterm “output device” is intended to include all possible types ofdevices and mechanisms for outputting information from computer system1200 to a user or other computer. For example, user interface outputdevices may include, without limitation, a variety of display devicesthat visually convey text, graphics and audio/video information such asmonitors, printers, speakers, headphones, automotive navigation systems,plotters, voice output devices, and modems.

Storage subsystem 1218 provides a repository or data store for storinginformation that is used by computer system 1200. Storage subsystem 1218provides a tangible non-transitory computer-readable storage medium forstoring the basic programming and data constructs that provide thefunctionality of some embodiments. Software (programs, code modules,instructions) that when executed by processing subsystem 1204 providethe functionality described above may be stored in storage subsystem1218. The software may be executed by one or more processing units ofprocessing subsystem 1204. Storage subsystem 1218 may also provide arepository for storing data used in accordance with the presentinvention.

Storage subsystem 1218 may include one or more non-transitory memorydevices, including volatile and non-volatile memory devices. As shown inFIG. 15, storage subsystem 1218 includes a system memory 1210 and acomputer-readable storage media 1222. System memory 1210 may include anumber of memories including a volatile main random access memory (RAM)for storage of instructions and data during program execution and anon-volatile read only memory (ROM) or flash memory in which fixedinstructions are stored. In some implementations, a basic input/outputsystem (BIOS), containing the basic routines that help to transferinformation between elements within computer system 1200, such as duringstart-up, may typically be stored in the ROM. The RAM typically containsdata and/or program modules that are presently being operated andexecuted by processing subsystem 1204. In some implementations, systemmemory 1210 may include multiple different types of memory, such asstatic random access memory (SRAM) or dynamic random access memory(DRAM).

By way of example, and not limitation, as depicted in FIG. 15, systemmemory 1210 may store application programs 1212, which may includeclient applications, Web browsers, mid-tier applications, relationaldatabase management systems (RDBMS), etc., program data 1214, and anoperating system 1216. By way of example, operating system 1216 mayinclude various versions of Microsoft Windows®, Apple Macintosh®, and/orLinux operating systems, a variety of commercially-available UNIX® orUNIX-like operating systems (including without limitation the variety ofGNU/Linux operating systems, the Google Chrome® OS, and the like) and/ormobile operating systems such as iOS, Windows® Phone, Android® OS,BlackBerry® 10 OS, and Palm® OS operating systems.

Computer-readable storage media 1222 may store programming and dataconstructs that provide the functionality of some embodiments. Software(programs, code modules, instructions) that when executed by processingsubsystem 1204 a processor provide the functionality described above maybe stored in storage subsystem 1218. By way of example,computer-readable storage media 1222 may include non-volatile memorysuch as a hard disk drive, a magnetic disk drive, an optical disk drivesuch as a CD ROM, DVD, a Blu-Ray® disk, or other optical media.Computer-readable storage media 1222 may include, but is not limited to,Zip® drives, flash memory cards, universal serial bus (USB) flashdrives, secure digital (SD) cards, DVD disks, digital video tape, andthe like. Computer-readable storage media 1222 may also include,solid-state drives (SSD) based on non-volatile memory such asflash-memory based SSDs, enterprise flash drives, solid state ROM, andthe like, SSDs based on volatile memory such as solid state RAM, dynamicRAM, static RAM, DRAM-based SSDs, magnetoresistive RAM (MRAM) SSDs, andhybrid SSDs that use a combination of DRAM and flash memory based SSDs.Computer-readable media 1222 may provide storage of computer-readableinstructions, data structures, program modules, and other data forcomputer system 1200.

In certain embodiments, storage subsystem 1200 may also include acomputer-readable storage media reader 1220 that can further beconnected to computer-readable storage media 1222. Together and,optionally, in combination with system memory 1210, computer-readablestorage media 1222 may comprehensively represent remote, local, fixed,and/or removable storage devices plus storage media for storingcomputer-readable information.

In certain embodiments, computer system 1200 may provide support forexecuting one or more virtual machines. Computer system 1200 may executea program such as a hypervisor for facilitating the configuring andmanaging of the virtual machines. Each virtual machine may be allocatedmemory, compute (e.g., processors, cores), I/O, and networkingresources. Each virtual machine typically runs its own operating system,which may be the same as or different from the operating systemsexecuted by other virtual machines executed by computer system 1200.Accordingly, multiple operating systems may potentially be runconcurrently by computer system 1200. Each virtual machine generallyruns independently of the other virtual machines.

Communications subsystem 1224 provides an interface to other computersystems and networks. Communications subsystem 1224 serves as aninterface for receiving data from and transmitting data to other systemsfrom computer system 1200. For example, communications subsystem 1224may enable computer system 1200 to establish a communication channel toone or more computing devices via the Internet for receiving and sendinginformation from and to the computing devices.

Communication subsystem 1224 may support both wired and/or wirelesscommunication protocols. For example, in certain embodiments,communications subsystem 1224 may include radio frequency (RF)transceiver components for accessing wireless voice and/or data networks(e.g., using cellular telephone technology, advanced data networktechnology, such as 3G, 4G or EDGE (enhanced data rates for globalevolution), WiFi (IEEE 802.11 family standards, or other mobilecommunication technologies, or any combination thereof), globalpositioning system (GPS) receiver components, and/or other components.In some embodiments communications subsystem 1224 can provide wirednetwork connectivity (e.g., Ethernet) in addition to or instead of awireless interface.

Communication subsystem 1224 can receive and transmit data in variousforms. For example, in some embodiments, communications subsystem 1224may receive input communication in the form of structured and/orunstructured data feeds 1226, event streams 1228, event updates 1230,and the like. For example, communications subsystem 1224 may beconfigured to receive (or send) data feeds 1226 in real-time from usersof social media networks and/or other communication services such asTwitter® feeds, Facebook® updates, web feeds such as Rich Site Summary(RSS) feeds, and/or real-time updates from one or more third partyinformation sources.

In certain embodiments, communications subsystem 1224 may be configuredto receive data in the form of continuous data streams, which mayinclude event streams 1228 of real-time events and/or event updates1230, that may be continuous or unbounded in nature with no explicitend. Examples of applications that generate continuous data may include,for example, sensor data applications, financial tickers, networkperformance measuring tools (e.g. network monitoring and trafficmanagement applications), clickstream analysis tools, automobile trafficmonitoring, and the like.

Communications subsystem 1224 may also be configured to output thestructured and/or unstructured data feeds 1226, event streams 1228,event updates 1230, and the like to one or more databases that may be incommunication with one or more streaming data source computers coupledto computer system 1200.

Computer system 1200 can be one of various types, including a handheldportable device (e.g., an iPhone® cellular phone, an iPad® computingtablet, a PDA), a wearable device (e.g., a Google Glass® head mounteddisplay), a personal computer, a workstation, a mainframe, a kiosk, aserver rack, or any other data processing system.

Due to the ever-changing nature of computers and networks, thedescription of computer system 1200 depicted in FIG. 15 is intended onlyas a specific example. Many other configurations having more or fewercomponents than the system depicted in FIG. 15 are possible. Based onthe disclosure and teachings provided herein, a person of ordinary skillin the art will appreciate other ways and/or methods to implement thevarious embodiments.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a computer systemcomprising the communication subsystem 1224 and the processing subsystem1204 coupled with the communication subsystem 1224. The processingsubsystem 1204 is configured to receive via the communication subsystem1224 a resource submission from a user. The resource submissionidentifying a contributable resource. The processing subsystem 1204 isfurther configured to identify a contribution policy for the resourcesubmission. The contribution policy is identified based on a mappingbetween a resource type of the contributable resource and one or moreresource types of requestable resources. The processing subsystem 1204is further configured to send via the communication subsystem 1224 theone or more resource types of the requestable resources to a clientcomputing system associated with the user based on the identifiedcontribution policy for the resource submission. The processingsubsystem 1204 is further configured to receive via the communicationsubsystem 1224 from the client computing system, information indicatinga selection by the user of a resource type of the one or more resourcetypes of the requestable resources.

According to one embodiment, the contributable resource is managed bythe user.

According to one embodiment, the processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to determine, based on the resource submission, the resourcetype of the contributable resource. The identifying the contributionpolicy includes determining that the resource type matches one or moreresource types of contributable resources, the one or more resourcetypes of contributable resources mapping to the one or more resourcetypes of the requestable resources in the contribution policy.

According to one embodiment, the identifying the contribution policy isfurther determined based at least on the user's history of resourcecontribution.

According to one embodiment, the processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to receive via the communication subsystem 1224 accesscredentials for the contributable resource identified in the resourcesubmission.

According to one embodiment, the access credentials enable the user tomanage the contributable resource.

According to one embodiment, the processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to update a user account history and a resource pool toindicate the selection of the resource type of the one or more resourcetypes of the requestable resources.

According to one embodiment, the processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to receiving via the communication subsystem 1224 an order bythe user for a service. The service is enabled in part by allocation ofa resource. The processing subsystem 1204 is further configured todetermine that a type of the resource matches the resource type selectedby the user, and enable access to the resource for the service inexchange for the contributable resource.

According to one embodiment, the enabling access to the resourcecomprises allocating the resource to the user, configuring the resourcefor servicing the user, and sending a confirmation message to the userthat the resource has been allocated.

According to one embodiment, the processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to update the contribution policy based on demand for the oneor more resource types of requestable resources defined within thecontribution policy.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a resource manager 105;305; 505; 905; 975 comprising a resource submission interface 510configured to receive a resource submission from a user. The resourcesubmission identifying a contributable resource. The resource manager105; 305; 505; 905; 975 further comprises a policy manager 335; 525; 935configured to determine, based on the resource submission, the resourcetype of the contributable resource, and identify a contribution policyfor the resource submission. The identifying the contribution policyincludes determining that the resource type matches one or more resourcetypes of contributable resources mapping to one or more resource typesof requestable resources in the contribution policy. The resourcesubmission interface 510 is further configured to send, based on theidentified contribution policy for the resource submission, the one ormore resource types of the requestable resources to a client computingsystem associated with the user. The resource submission interface 510is also configured to receive from the client computing system,information indicating a selection by the user of a resource type of theone or more resource types of the requestable resources.

According to one embodiment, the contributable resource is managed bythe user.

According to one embodiment, the resource submission interface 510 isfurther configured to receive access credentials for the contributableresource identified in the resource submission. The access credentialsenable the user to manage the contributable resource.

According to one embodiment, the resource manager 105; 305; 505; 905;975 is further configured to allocate a resource that is of a type thatmatches the resource type selected by the user in exchange for thecontributable resource.

According to one embodiment, the allocating comprises configuring theresource for servicing the user.

According to one embodiment, the resource submission interface 510 isfurther configured to receive an order by the user for a service,wherein the service is enabled in part by allocation of a resource. Theresource manager 105; 305; 505; 905; 975 is further configured todetermine that a type of the resource matches the resource type selectedby the user, and enable access to the resource for the service inexchange for the contributable resource.

According to one embodiment, the resource manager 105; 305; 505; 905;975 is further configured to update the contribution policy based ondemand for the one or more resource types of contributable resources orthe one or more resource types of the requestable resources definedwithin the contribution policy.

According to one embodiment, there is provided a computer systemcomprising the communication subsystem 1224 and the processing subsystem1204 coupled with the communication subsystem 1224. The processingsubsystem 1204 is configured to receive via the communication subsystem1224 an order from a user for a service, the order identifies acontributable resource and a requestable resource. The contributableresource is to be provided to a resource pool in exchange for therequestable resource. The processing subsystem 1204 is furtherconfigured to accept the resource submission based on a contributionpolicy. The contribution policy defines a mapping between a firstresource type of a type of the contributable resource and a secondresource type of a type of the requestable resource. The processingsubsystem 1204 is further configured to receive via the communicationsubsystem 1224 access credentials that provide access to and controlover the contributable resource. The processing subsystem 1204 isfurther configured to update the resource pool to indicate availabilityof the contributable resource for servicing one or more users of adistributed system. The processing subsystem 1204 is further configuredto allocate via the communication subsystem 1224 the requestableresource to the user.

According to one embodiment, the contributable resource is managed bythe user, and the requestable resource is managed by another user.

According to one embodiment, the contributable resource is managed bythe user, and the requestable resource is a component of the resourcepool managed by a resource manager of the distributed system.

Although specific embodiments of the invention have been described,various modifications, alterations, alternative constructions, andequivalents are also encompassed within the scope of the invention. Themodifications include any relevant combination of the disclosedfeatures. Embodiments of the present invention are not restricted tooperation within certain specific data processing environments, but arefree to operate within a plurality of data processing environments.Additionally, although embodiments of the present invention have beendescribed using a particular series of transactions and steps, it shouldbe apparent to those skilled in the art that the scope of the presentinvention is not limited to the described series of transactions andsteps. Various features and aspects of the above-described embodimentsmay be used individually or jointly.

Further, while embodiments of the present invention have been describedusing a particular combination of hardware and software, it should berecognized that other combinations of hardware and software are alsowithin the scope of the present invention. Embodiments of the presentinvention may be implemented only in hardware, or only in software, orusing combinations thereof. The various processes described herein canbe implemented on the same processor or different processors in anycombination. Accordingly, where components or modules are described asbeing configured to perform certain operations, such configuration canbe accomplished, e.g., by designing electronic circuits to perform theoperation, by programming programmable electronic circuits (such asmicroprocessors) to perform the operation, or any combination thereof.Processes can communicate using a variety of techniques including butnot limited to conventional techniques for interprocess communication,and different pairs of processes may use different techniques, or thesame pair of processes may use different techniques at different times.

The specification and drawings are, accordingly, to be regarded in anillustrative rather than a restrictive sense. It will, however, beevident that additions, subtractions, deletions, and other modificationsand changes may be made thereunto without departing from the broaderspirit and scope as set forth in the claims. Thus, although specificinvention embodiments have been described, these are not intended to belimiting. Various modifications and equivalents are within the scope ofthe following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a computingsystem, a resource submission from a user, the resource submissionidentifying a contributable resource; identifying, by the computingsystem, a contribution policy for the resource submission, wherein thecontribution policy is identified based on a mapping between a resourcetype of the contributable resource and one or more resource types ofrequestable resources; sending, by the computing system, based on theidentified contribution policy for the resource submission, the one ormore resource types of the requestable resources to a client computingsystem associated with the user; and receiving, by the computing system,from the client computing system, information indicating a selection bythe user of a resource type of the one or more resource types of therequestable resources.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thecontributable resource is managed by the user.
 3. The method of claim 2,further comprising determining, by the computing system, based on theresource submission, the resource type of the contributable resource,wherein the identifying the contribution policy includes determiningthat the resource type matches one or more resource types ofcontributable resources, the one or more resource types of contributableresources mapping to the one or more resource types of the requestableresources in the contribution policy.
 4. The method of claim 3, whereinthe identifying the contribution policy is further determined based atleast on the user's history of resource contribution.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising receiving, by the computing system, accesscredentials for the contributable resource identified in the resourcesubmission.
 6. The method of claim 5, wherein the access credentialsenable the user to manage the contributable resource.
 7. The method ofclaim 1, further comprising updating, by the computing system, a useraccount history and a resource pool to indicate the selection of theresource type of the one or more resource types of the requestableresources.
 8. The method of claim 1, further comprising: receiving, bythe computing system, an order by the user for a service, wherein theservice is enabled in part by allocation of a resource; determining, bythe computing system, that a type of the resource matches the resourcetype selected by the user; and enabling, by the computing system, accessto the resource for the service in exchange for the contributableresource.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the enabling access to theresource comprises allocating the resource to the user, configuring theresource for servicing the user, and sending a confirmation message tothe user that the resource has been allocated.
 10. The method of claim1, further comprising updating, by the computing system, thecontribution policy based on demand for the one or more resource typesof requestable resources defined within the contribution policy.
 11. Anon-transitory machine readable storage medium having instructionsstored thereon that when executed by one or more processors cause theone or more processors to perform a method comprising: receiving aresource submission from a user, the resource submission identifying acontributable resource; determining, based on the resource submission,the resource type of the contributable resource; identifying acontribution policy for the resource submission, wherein the identifyingthe contribution policy includes determining that the resource typematches one or more resource types of contributable resources mapping toone or more resource types of requestable resources in the contributionpolicy; sending, based on the identified contribution policy for theresource submission, the one or more resource types of the requestableresources to a client computing system associated with the user; andreceiving from the client computing system, information indicating aselection by the user of a resource type of the one or more resourcetypes of the requestable resources.
 12. The non-transitory machinereadable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the contributable resourceis managed by the user.
 13. The non-transitory machine readable storagemedium of claim 12, wherein the method further comprises receivingaccess credentials for the contributable resource identified in theresource submission, and the access credentials enable the user tomanage the contributable resource.
 14. The non-transitory machinereadable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the method furthercomprises allocating a resource that is of a type that matches theresource type selected by the user in exchange for the contributableresource.
 15. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium ofclaim 14, wherein the allocating comprises configuring the resource forservicing the user.
 16. The non-transitory machine readable storagemedium of claim 14, wherein the method further comprises: receiving anorder by the user for a service, wherein the service is enabled in partby allocation of a resource; determining that a type of the resourcematches the resource type selected by the user; and enabling access tothe resource for the service in exchange for the contributable resource.17. The non-transitory machine readable storage medium of claim 11,wherein the method further comprises updating the contribution policybased on demand for the one or more resource types of contributableresources or the one or more resource types of the requestable resourcesdefined within the contribution policy.
 18. A system comprising: one ormore processors and non-transitory machine readable storage medium;program instructions to receive an order from a user for a service, theorder identifies a contributable resource and a requestable resource,wherein the contributable resource is to be provided to a resource poolin exchange for the requestable resource; program instructions to acceptthe resource submission based on a contribution policy, wherein thecontribution policy defines a mapping between a first resource type of atype of the contributable resource and a second resource type of a typeof the requestable resource; program instructions to receive accesscredentials that provide access to and control over the contributableresource; program instructions to update the resource pool to indicateavailability of the contributable resource for servicing one or moreusers of a distributed system; and program instructions to allocate therequestable resource to the user, wherein the program instructions arestored on the non-transitory machine readable storage medium forexecution by the one or more processors.
 19. The system of claim 18,wherein the contributable resource is managed by the user, and therequestable resource is managed by another user.
 20. The system of claim18, wherein the contributable resource is managed by the user, and therequestable resource is a component of the resource pool managed by aresource manager of the distributed system.